The 2019 Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm Racecourse on June 22 remains on the radar for the Kris Lees-trained Princess Posh despite her late scratching from last weekend’s Group 1 $1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m).
Trainer Kris Lees is hoping Stradbroke late scratching Princess Posh can make the Tatt’s Tiara 2019 field. Photo: Daniel Costello.
Connections of the in-form Canford Cliffs five-year-old were keen to take a shot at Queensland’s most lucrative race after Princess Posh put in an outstanding run on May 25 when runner-up to The Bostonian in the Group 1 $700,000 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m).
Beaten under a length that run as a genuine roughie in betting, the mare was forced out of the Stradbroke Handicap field after racing stewards found her unsound to race.
Princess Posh was vetted on the eve of the race and scratched officially on race day despite having been cleared earlier in the week after overcoming an unrelated foot abscess.
Connections at Australia Bloodstock enjoyed a later Eagle Farm win with 2019 Caulfield Cup hopeful Sixties Groove taking out the Group 2 Brisbane Cup (2400m) and stablemate Big Duke third.
Still, not having a Stradbroke runner was a notable blow and one they hope to atone for with Princess Posh needing to be cleared for a run in the Group 1 $500,000 Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) back at the track Saturday week.
The team are desperately hoping for a good result in the Tiara having opted to withdraw Princess Posh from the Gold Coast’s national broodmare sale for the Stradbroke – Tiara double following her better than expected run in the Kingsford-Smith.
“We’ll fly our vet up and show them that that’s just the way she is,” Australian Bloodstock co-director Jamie Lovett told AAP.
“She’s had that gait for three years, that’s just the way she walks and trots up. Nothing has changed in three years.”
Bookmakers are taking few chances with the mare and currently have Princess Posh installed at $10 all-in Tatt’s Tiara odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Pre-field Tattersall’s Tiara betting is led by the Godolphin-raced Glenlogan Park Stakes winning mare Savatiano ($4.60).
Her stablemate, the fellow James Cummings-trained Pohutukawa, is the $6 second pick for this winter’s Tiara win after the filly finished under a length third in last Saturday’s Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1600m).
The Tattersall’s Tiara race nominations for 2019 close on Monday with the final field and updated odds at Ladbrokes.com.au out on Wednesday.
