Pat Farrell trained Alart will on Friday night hope to break a 25-start drought without a win, dating back to the 31st of October 2015. The 5-year-old mare has been placed 6 times since her last victory however gets arguably her best chance yet in a benchmark 70 over 1100m at Canterbury.
Since winning the listed Reginald Allen Quality at Rosehill Gardens in 2015, Alart has won just one race, 2 runs later in a benchmark 85 again at Rosehill. Admittedly, it has not been the easiest run as of late for the mare by Excellent Art, meeting very strong opposition in town in addition to struggling to cope with huge weights around country circuits. Not to be underestimated by her unusually small in stature, Alart has been far from disgraced recently and going on class, she looks every chance as she again lines up as the top-weight against easier opposition.
A winner of 7 races to date, the 3-time group 3 runner has previously come up against some of Australia’s best sprinters. Most notably, Alart was just 0.1L off Redzel in the San Domenico Stakes at Rosehill over 1100m in August 2015. Won by Japonisme, the 3-year-old race also included Golden Slipper winner Vancouver.
Defeating the likes of Flamboyant Lass and Denpurr in her only listed victory to date, she then came across Counterattack and Hellbent in the listed Brian Crowley Stakes at Randwick, where she was beaten 4L. Her most recent win would come in her next start, overpowering the smart Press Report, Fiftyshadesofgrey and Rustic Melody over 1200m at Rosehill.
It has been anything but smooth sailing for the pocket rocket following her last win in October 2015, running in listed Gosford Guineas, the Group 3 PJ Bell Stakes and the Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes throughout 2016, prior to running in the Group 3 Maurice McCarten Stakes where she found Artistry, Dothraki and Ball Of Muscle, running 7L 5th in March last year.
Primarily running in around benchmark 85 races in more recent times, she has run into plenty of quality including Santa Ana Lane, Elle Lou, Daysee Doom, Girl Sunday, Bonnie O’reilly, Kudero and multiple track record holder Deploy.
With trainer Pat Farrell opting more often then not to nominate the mare at country tracks in 2017, her big motor has been put to work carrying the big weight assigned to her on each occasion. She carried 63kg when running 3rd at Quirindi in February 2017, followed by 4 consective runs carrying more then 6kg at Scone, Muswellbrook, Canterbury and Narromine, running 2nd of 10 in the latter carrying 62kg.
Alart will welcome a slight weight relief and huge drop in class when she takes on a field of 10 over 1100m on Friday. The top weight has drawn barrier 8 with Josh Adams to ride where she has previously been a winner at the distance, placing twice. Her best time of 61.01 for the 1100m trip is around 2 seconds faster then the second best in the field where she looks to have a few lengths on her opposition if everything goes to plan.
