Highly-rated Anatomica will figure in a change of lead-up plans as she heads towards a clash with benchmark filly Samantha Miss next month.Trainer Joe Pride confirmed he has all but committed the three-year-old to a start against older horses at Randwick on Saturday instead of trialling her before the $150,000 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) on February 14.Anatomica scrambled home to win at Randwick on January 10 and earned mixed reviews."With five weeks between the Randwick race and the Light Fing
Highly-rated Anatomica will figure in a change of lead-up plans as she heads towards a clash with benchmark filly Samantha Miss next month.
Trainer Joe Pride confirmed he has all but committed the three-year-old to a start against older horses at Randwick on Saturday instead of trialling her before the $150,000 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) on February 14.
Anatomica scrambled home to win at Randwick on January 10 and earned mixed reviews.
"With five weeks between the Randwick race and the Light Fingers she was always going to have a good hitout," Pride said.
"Whether it was a trial or another race it doesn't really matter.
"But if there is the opportunity there to win $40,000 (in prizemoney) with her, and it's not going to hurt her, then she'll more than likely go around.
"I'll accept with her on Thursday and then talk it over with the owner but I'd say she will be running."
Anatomica is one of 12 entries for a 1200m event restricted to horses who have won no more than two metropolitan races. She will take on older rivals with 54kg.
Her Randwick victory - the second of her career - wasn't as convincing as Pride was expecting but he said he was a forgiving trainer when it came to assessing her future.
"Obviously she was a very exciting two-year-old and you tend to expect a bit too much of them when they come back," he said.
The Light Fingers will mark the return to racing of Australia's outstanding three-year-old female galloper Samantha Miss.
Samantha Miss enjoyed a dominant spring over the country's best three-year-old fillies, making a clean sweep of the Princess Series in Sydney before claiming the VRC Oaks at Flemington.
In between her Sydney campaign and her Oaks triumph she confirmed her quality against Australasia's best weight-for-age gallopers when third to Maldivian in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.