Vain Queen is the shortest-priced favourite at Flemington on Saturday but her trainer John Sadler still has a distance query on the unbeaten filly over the `straight six’ course.
The three-year-old has been an impressive winner of an 1100m provincial maiden and a 1000m sprint up the straight at Flemington at her only two starts.
She steps to 1200m for the first time in Saturday’s Trevor Clarke Handicap and is the $2.50 favourite with TAB fixed odds.
While Sadler acknowledges the talented daughter of Artie Schiller is “going to be a good chance” in what will be her final start of the campaign, he feels the rise in distance is the biggest query to her continuing her winning ways.
“I’ve just got a bit of a concern about the 1200 metres up the straight,” Sadler said.
“I didn’t think she had much left in her on the line the other day so that would be my biggest concern for Saturday. I’m sure she’ll probably be in front with 100 metres to go, but the last 100 there might be a bit of a worry.”
Vain Queen scored by 5-1/2 lengths on debut at Ballarat and backed it up with another smart performance to win by three-quarters of a length as favourite at Flemington on Anzac Day.
“It was a good effort to go from a maiden win to a Flemington win,” Sadler said.
The Peter Moody-trained Our Celladoor is the only other runner under double figure odds at $7.
