The James H B Carr Stakes might have been the race that got away for Karinska, but she has another golden opportunity to land an overdue stakes win in the Group Three Hawkesbury Guineas.
The filly was desperately unlucky at Randwick when James McDonald angled her to the outside to make her run, only to be shouldered back in by eventual winner Snitzel Dancer.
Karinska got going again late to finish third, a result which has trainer Chris Waller’s assistant, Charlie Duckworth, still smarting.
“You know when jockeys come in and say, ‘I should have won’. This wasn’t a ‘should have’. There was no air of doubt. It was, ‘if I get my run, I win’,” Duckworth said.
“She is barging the door down to win one of these.”
Karinska has been competitive against the best of her age group throughout her three-year-old season, finishing on the heels of the placegetters in the Furious Stakes and Tea Rose Stakes in the spring, before a Group 1 placing behind Apocalyptic in the Flight Stakes.
With McDonald not riding this weekend, Tommy Berry takes over the reins and like Duckworth, believes Karinska is knocking on the door.
“Last start was a good example of how well she is going,” Berry said.
“She has got a great racing style, she can put herself just behind the speed.
“You look at her last prep, the races she was running in and the quality of horses she was up against. It’s a bit of a step back from that, and the team is very confident.”
Karinska was a $6.50 chance on Friday and will be bidding to become the first filly to win the Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) since Shazee Lee nine years ago.
While Karinska has been a handy pick up ride for Berry, two-year-old Tenebaum is the horse he is heading to Hawkesbury to ride.
Berry rode the Brad Widdup-trained colt in three trials prior to his impressive first-up win at Wyong and believes he can be a major player in Brisbane during the winter carnival.
“He is the main reason I chose to stay in Sydney instead of going to Queensland. I think he’s got the potential to be a J J Atkins horse,” Berry said.
“He put them away quite easily last start at Wyong and won by a margin, which is hard to do for two-year-olds.
“The penny is just starting to drop with him. He will improve again off the weekend but to go to Queensland and be competitive in those races, he’s going to have to put in a good showing on Saturday.”
