She was the right horse in the wrong place when rated desperately unlucky in the only Group One appearance of her career.
But if it is some consolation to trainer Ciaron Maher, Azkadellia’s Myer Classic defeat when a high-profile victim of a track bias stands a good chance of working in her favour in the Group One Coolmore Classic at Rosehill.
Azkadellia
After racing on the rails, Azkadellia had to be switched to the worst part of the track to find clear running room on a day when horses found it difficult to make ground from back in the field.
It left Maher to rue his luck as Azkadellia was beaten less than a length into the minor placing and it’s not lost on the Melbourne trainer that Politeness will now have to concede his mare 4kg at Rosehill as opposed to the half kilogram between them at Flemington.
“She has shown she is up to that (Group One level) and on the weight scale she gets in really well,” Maher said.
Azkadellia goes into the Coolmore as a last-start winner of the Mannerism Stakes at Caulfield.
Allowed to complete the serious part of her trackwork before leaving, Azkadellia arrived in Sydney at the weekend and has settled into her new surroundings with a minimum of fuss.
“She travelled up well and had a maintenance gallop on Tuesday morning,” Maher said.
“She didn’t need a strong gallop. It was more about getting her familiar with the Sydney way of going.”
Brett Prebble will fly in from Hong Kong to partner Azkadellia for the first time and Maher said there would not be a departure from the successful riding tactics that have delivered the four-year-old five wins in 11 starts.
“She’s pretty straightforward. She usually settles in the second half of the field and comes with her run,” he said.
Azkadellia has drawn inside her obvious Coolmore dangers and she will jump from barrier four while Politeness has the outside gate in a 13-horse field.
Unbeaten Ghisoni has a middle marble in gate eight and last-start Guy Walter Stakes winner Solicit will start from barrier six.
Godolphin trainer John O’Shea will fly in Singapore-based Corey Brown to ride Ghisoni at 50kg and has engaged Sydney’s leading apprentice Winona Costin to ride Pearls at the same weight.
Azkadellia will be one of six Rosehill mounts for Prebble in a book that also includes the ride on Mount Panorama in the Pago Pago Stakes.
