Nicely-bred filly Harpers will get the chance to redeem herself at Sandown on Saturday after being scratched at the barrier when about to make her race debut.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel got stirred up going to the barrier for a 1000m race at Flemington on December 10, took charge of her rider James Winks and bolted to the top of the straight.
The VRL veterinarian reported she was unsuitable to race and she was withdrawn by stewards.
“There’s nothing wrong with her,” Paul Snowden, Melbourne stable foreman for his father Peter, said.
“She’s not that kind of a horse at all. It’s not in her nature at all to do that so we’ll let her go around on Saturday just to make sure.
“James (Winks) did the right thing. He asked the vet to inspect her behind the barrier and she was taken out. I was quite happy with what he did.”
Winks retains the mount on Harpers in the Swettenham Stud Dash For Cash Plate (900m).
Harpers, who is out of the Golden Slipper placegetter Media and is a half-sister to Sandown winner Offer, won a Cranbourne 800m barrier trial on a slow track late last month.
She is at $4.50 with TAB Sportsbet behind Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic prospect Alezan Thunder ($3.60 fav) and Ephemera ($4), with the David Hayes-trained Spirit Of Carbine at $6.50.
Craig Newitt will ride Snowden’s other Dash For Cash Plate runner, Flying Spur filly Belisama ($8) who was runner-up to stablemate Coins in a Cranbourne trial in late October.
Coins subsequently ran fourth to Maximus Moonard in the Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Sandown on November 12.
Written Tycoon filly Alezan Thunder, prepared by Mark Kavanagh, is currently 16th in the order of entry into the 1200m Gold Coast feature on January 14 with stake earnings of $30,300.
The filly beat fellow Magic Millions aspirant Little Critter at her debut over 1000m at Morphettville on October 8 before finishing third to the Snowden-trained Applegate in the Emirates Airlines Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day.
The Peter Moody-trained Ephemera, by More Than Ready, the sire of Golden Slipper winners Phelan Ready and Sebring, hasn’t trialled officially.
AAP TURF
