The handicapper has given trainer Chris Waller enough confidence to challenge First Seal’s rating as the standout runner in the Coolmore Classic.
Waller will send Amicus into the Group One race for fillies and mares certain the Thousand Guineas winner has the weight relief and the barrier to at least match it with First Seal.
Amicus, Hugh Bowman
“First Seal has got three more kilos (to carry) … and I think that brings us into it,” Waller said.
“She’s got a beautiful gate and she’s got her chance because all of her runs have been good, particularly her last start.”
Amicus hasn’t figured in the placings since making her own luck to claim the Thousand Guineas during last year’s Caulfield Cup carnival.
But it’s hard to disagree with Waller about the merit of Amicus’ Surround Stakes run behind First Seal despite the filly conceding a four-length margin to the winner.
At level weights, Amicus was crowded between horses to the 200m as First Seal swept down the middle with all the momentum in a superior part of the track.
Amicus drops to 52.5kg with an inside draw while First Seal will carry 55.5kg from gate 11 in a field of 13 at Rosehill on Saturday.
“It’s a tough race for a three-year-old filly but Amicus is well weighted,” Waller said.
First Seal is being quoted at $1.70 with most bookmakers and barring a sizeable betting drift she is poised to join champion New Zealand mare Sunline as the only horse to start odds-on in a Coolmore (1500m).
Kris Lees has two Coolmore runners as he tries to win the race which his father Max won five times between 1986 and 1998.
The Newcastle trainer said apart from First Seal, this year’s field might not be a vintage one.
“It’s possibly not the best Coolmore field outside of an outstanding three-year-old in First Seal,” he said.
Lees rates Triscay Stakes winner Thump over Hera as his best chance to add to his stable’s rich history in the race.
“If she can get the right type of run I think she can finish in the money,” he said.
