Stakes winner Ahuriri showed a welcome return to form on a wet track last start and trainer Chris Waller hoped a similar surface at Randwick could help her to continue in that vein.
The mare ploughed through the heavy 9 conditions over 1900m at Canterbury last month to record her first win since the 2024 VRC St Leger (2800m).
She steps up to 2400m in Saturday’s PF Civil Handicap on a track anticipated to be at the extreme end of the ratings spectrum.
“She won a St Leger at Flemington this time last year and it’s going to be wet, it’s going to call on stamina and she’s got that,” Waller said.
“She’s got winning form on a wet track last start so for a winter horse, she ticks the boxes.
“We’re confident that she will run well.”
Ahuriri has been steady in early betting as a $3.80 favourite and will have the services of Zac Lloyd from barrier 13.
The mare forms part of a busy book for Lloyd, who has rides in nine of the 10 races.
Along with Ahuriri, he will partner two-year-old Master Of The Air for Waller in the opening event, the Dundeel youngster resuming after finishing fifth in a strong Warwick Farm maiden in February behind subsequent Black Opal Stakes winner King Of Pop.
Lloyd will also team up with training partners John O’Shea and Tom Charlton for a trio of mounts, headlined by $4.40 chance Hurstville Zagreb, who will be out to stakes his Queensland Derby claims in the Chalouhi Handicap (1800m).
Stablemate Interjection ($5.50) is also high in markets for the Magnolia Lane Financial Services Handicap (1400m) and boasts autumn carnival formlines having finished third behind Sargeant Major in the Listed South Pacific Classic (1400m) over Saturday’s course and distance two starts ago
The O’Shea and Charlton-trained She’s Unusual ($4.60) rounds out Lloyd’s book in the Wilson Asset Management Handicap (1400m) and is yet to miss a top-two finish in four starts on heavy tracks.
