Any small ailment when chasing an elusive Group 1 victory is usually best dealt with by caution.
That is precisely what Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young did with Sierra Sue who was highly fancied for last week’s opening Melbourne Group 1 of the 2021-22 season, the Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
Rather than take the risk of running the mare with a stone bruise, they decided to wait a week and now she lines up in the Group 2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at The Valley on Saturday.
Sierra Sue won the Mildura Cup (1400m) in July before stepping up to Group 2 company with an impressive victory in the P B Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield on August 14.
On the strength of that success, Sierra Sue was in the market behind the likes of Behemoth, Beau Rossa and Tofane before her scratching from the Memsie Stakes.
“She’s looks to be right back on track,” Busuttin said.
“Obviously stone bruises, they can take a few days to get over, but I’m pretty happy.”
While the stone bruise was not serious and Sierra Sue could possibly have started, Busuttin and Young took the view that every box needs to be ticked to be successful at the highest level.
“We looked at it from the fact that while she wasn’t terrible, in Group 1 races, you don’t win those races with any sort of issues,” Busuttin said.
“If it was a Grand Final, the be-all, end-all, and you had to run in it, you would take the chance and maybe get away with it, but they very rarely win those big races when not 100 per cent right.
“There is still a long way to go in the spring, so it was better to get her over it and now we can press forward.
“We haven’t seen any signs of it troubling her and her work has been good.”
Saturday’s weight-for-age contest is an open affair with Sierra Sue the $6 second elect with TAB behind Superstorm and Elephant who share the top line at $5.
