All eyes will be on Moonee Valley this Friday night when a Tony McEvoy trained filly makes her racetrack debut after being knocked down at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for a staggering $1.8m earlier this year.
Al Naifa, the daughter of Redoute’s Choice out of Court is a half-sister to Group 1 winner English, and was purchased by Tim Stakemire on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale in April.
Michael Shepherdson, stable foreman for Tony McEvoy, hopes to get the run of the race on Friday night after drawing barrier 3 in the 1000m sprint.
“She’s a high-priced yearling that’s been well-educated and we’ve been really excited to have her in the stable,” Shepherdson said.
“She’s had a jumpout at Flemington and two trials at Cranbourne.
“In the first one she showed quite a lot of speed and natural talent so in the second trial we wanted to bring her in behind to teach her to switch off and she did that before circling them to win the trial.
“She’s banging the door down to go to the races and we’ve drawn a nice barrier so she should get the run of the race.”
Al Naifa ran second in a Cranbourne trial on November 14 before going on to win another Cranbourne trial on November 27.
Luke Currie will take the ride on the 2-year-old, who has opened up as the $2.60 favourite with Sportsbet.
