John Sargent has drawn on all of his experience training three-year-old fillies in order to give Global Goal her best chance at Group One glory this Spring.
The daughter of Pinatubo is set to run in the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday with Sargent deliberately opting to skip the second leg of the Princess Series, the Furious Stakes after an eye-catching third in the Silver Shadow Stakes first up.
Having run the race-fastest last 200m behind Pembrey in the Silver Shadow, Sargent opted to trial Global Goal on Friday, mindful of how much racing the lightly framed filly could handle given she’ll be lining up for just her third career start on Saturday.
“She seems to have done well since the Silver Shadow,” Sargent said.
“We’ve just spaced her runs and gave her a trial the other day and I’ve added side winkers as she just seems to go through a flat patch in her races.
“It seems to have got her to concentrate better so she’ll wear those on Saturday, and the extra distance should help.”
Having won the Tea Rose Stakes with Four Moves Ahead in 2021, also for Pinecliff Racing, Sargent is keen to see Global Goal step up in trip, with the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) her ultimate goal.
Four Moves Ahead finished sixth in the Flight that year and Sargent has also been close with Foxborough, who finished third to Funstar in 2019, and Powers Of Opal, who finished fourth to Lady Shenandoah in 2024.
While Powers Of Opal ended up running second to Treasurethe Moment in both the Wakeful Stakes and VRC Oaks later in the Spring, Sargent said Global Goal likely wouldn’t be seen past a mile.
“She’s owned by the same owners as Four Moves Ahead, and she went to the Furious and then went and won the Tea Rose,” Sargent said.
“But this filly’s probably a lighter filly than that, so she doesn’t need a lot, so I decided to miss that race and carry on to the Flight Stakes.
“She’s probably not big and robust enough to be an Oaks horse, she’s more a 1400 to a mile type horse, I think.
“There’s always a Thousand Guineas which is a bit later that she’s nominated for, but no, we’ll just look at those races and if she could happen to win one of those, we’d probably put her aside and look at the Autumn.”
Global Goal is a $4.50 chance for the Tea Rose Stakes and a $7 chance for the Flight Stakes on October 3rd.
