Trainer Grahame Begg thought he had ticked all the boxes before sending Beauty Bolt to Adelaide for a Group One assignment.
Unable to travel to South Australia, or send one of his staff, Begg loaded up the truck with all the required feed to make Beauty Bolt’s trip to the Australasian Oaks as normal as possible.
Unfortunately for Begg, Beauty Bolt did not travel as well as hoped to Adelaide and finished last in the 2000m race.
Back in Melbourne, freshened for 1400m, Beauty Bolt runs in the Celebration Of Melbourne Handicap at Flemington on Saturday.
“It was her first trip away and I don’t think she travelled well over there,” Begg said.
“We were happy with her going … but she was in a different place and didn’t have all the normal people around her.
“It ended up being a non-event, so we’ve freshened her up and brought her back in journey.”
Begg says future races for Beauty Bolt will be kept to the 1400m to 1600m range despite the filly finishing fourth in the VRC Oaks (2500m) last spring.
“We’re quite conscious of that fact, but you have to go through that process with younger horses and give them their chance to run in Classic races to try and get that black-type,” Begg said.
“We’ve gone back to the drawing board a bit and she seems to be more effective over a shorter distance.”
Begg has opted to tackle older mares on Saturday instead of taking on Beauty Bolt’s three-year-old age group and utilise the 2kg claim of Teo Nugent.
“Unfortunately with the weights the way they are now, you are not getting your true weight,” Begg said.
“They’re just making it for the better-class horses because there is not enough of a spread in the weights, so that’s why we’ve decided to run in this rather than the three-year-old race.”
