Sea Siren’s win in Saturday’s BTC Cup has propelled the filly to favouritism for the Stradbroke Handicap but trainer John O’Shea has warned she is not certain to run.
The $1 million Group One Stradbroke (1400m) on June 9 has been a long range target but her BTC Cup win at weight-for-age has O’Shea concerned Sea Siren may get too much weight to be competitive when the handicaps are released on Monday.
“We have always targeted the Stradbroke,” O’Shea said.
“But it’s all down to weights.
“We’ve been thinking she was going to get around 51 (kg) but she’s probably not going to get than now that she has won a Group One.”
TAB Sportsbet has Sea Siren at $8.50 ahead of Buffering and Mental at $9.
Buffering was a no-show for the BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben after failing a veterinary examination on race morning.
The four-year-old was found to have a stone bruise on Friday morning and trainer Rob Heathcote battled over the next 24 hours to get him fit to no avail.
Heathcote said he expected Buffering would be back to normal in a few days and ready to target the Doomben 10,000 (1350m) on May 26.
The market positions in that Group One race are reversed with Buffering at $4 and Sea Siren next at $6.
When the O’Shea-trained Private Steer won the Stradbroke as a three-year-old filly in 2003, she carried just 48kg.
But with the rise in minimum weights over the past few years, three-year-olds have lost some advantage over the older horses.
Private Steer went on to win a Doncaster Handicap and while O’Shea said there was little comparison between the two fillies, he praised Sea Siren’s inherited toughness.
Her victory gave her sire Fastnet Rock his 10th individual Group One winner. Among them are this season’s star fillies Mosheen and Atlantic Jewel.
“Sea Siren is a big, tough Fastnet Rock filly but she’s no Private Steer,” O’Shea said.
“It’s no coincidence the quality three-year-old fillies in Australia at the moment are by Fastnet Rock.
“His progeny are so strong and tough.
“They just raise the bar.”
Fastnet Rock stands at Coolmore Stud and his 2012 service has been raised from $132,000 to $220,000 on the back of his Easter Yearling Sale average of more than $305,000.
