Last season’s star three year old star Kementari is a solid favourite for the Group 2 $200,000 Mostyn Copper Group Missile Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Kementari, above, is the solid favourite for the 2018 Missile Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Kementari will be having his first start back since finishing tenth to Happy Clapper in the Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on day one of The Championships on April 7 and has been installed as the $2 favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Prior running in the Doncaster Mile, Kementari had completed a hat trick of wins against the three year olds with victories in the Group 3 $150,000 Aquis Farm Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m) at Warwick Farm, the Group 2 $400,000 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill and in the Group 1 $1m Mostyn Copper Group Randwick Guineas (1600m) at Randwick.
Kementari has had two barrier trials in preparation for his return to the race track and trainer James Cummings said that the Lonhro stallion will definitely benefit from his first up run in the Missile Stakes.
“This is a really important test for him,” Cummings said.
“While he’s not yet fully wound up, he’s nevertheless capable of running very well fresh.
“He’s done well in his break and he’s had a solid preliminary preparation in the lead-up to this and looks ready to race as a stronger version of himself this campaign.”
“While I can see him not being completely at his best, I think the horse is in great shape and ready to run a very good race, he’ll be really winding up nicely.
“This is a good enough field to see what sort of performance we can get from him at 1200 metres at this stage of his career.”
Glyn Schofield rides Kementari who has drawn barrier four in the ten horse Missile Stakes field.
On the second line of betting at $4.20 is the Greg Hickman trained Pierata who was runner up twice to Kementari during the 2018 Sydney Autumn Carnival in the Hobartville Stakes and in the Randwick Guineas.
Pierata was the standout three year old during the Queensland Summer Racing Carnival which included a win in the $2m Magic Millions 3yo Guineas (1400m) at the Gold Coast in January.
On the third line of betting at $8.50 is the first of trainer Bjorn Bake’s two Missile Stakes runners, Music Magnate, while his stablemate Egyptian Symbol in marked as a $13 chance.
Music Magnate has won both of his barrier trials in the lead up to his return for the Spring and will be having his first race start since finishing eleventh in the Group 1 US$1m Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) at Meydan in Dubai on March 31.
