Churchill’s Choice already has one New South Wales regional feature in the bag this autumn and the mare with the big finish will get the chance to add another this Friday at Scone.
The Nathan Doyle-trained galloper will be out to back up her win in the Group 3 Hawkesbury Cup with victory in the $200,000 Listed Scone Cup (1600m), the feature event on Day 1 of the two-day carnival.
The four-year-old’s narrow-but-impressive upset win at Hawkesbury on May 2 was her first since victory in a benchmark 72 at Randwick in December 2024 and was satisfying for Doyle.
The Newcastle trainer would prefer it if there was an extra week between the Hawkesbury and Scone Cups, but this week’s race was opportunity too good to pass up now she is in form.
“I don’t think she’s a horse that actually lacked too much confidence, it’s just that she was probably too relaxed in the middle stages of her races,” Doyle said.
“When they started to increase the tempo in the race, she just wanted to go through the motions a little bit, but she’s bounced through the run good and I can’t fault her.
“We think she’s quite a fresh horse, so whether the two-week turnaround is a bit quick and she may need a little bit longer time will tell, but we haven’t done much with her in between.”
The Hawkesbury Cup win was Churchill’s Choice’s fourth career victory but first since winning her first three starts.
The daughter of Churchill ran second in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) on the same weekend as the Hawkesbury Cup 12 months’ prior, while she was also second in the Group 3 Newcastle Stakes (1400m) at the first run of her current campaign.
Regan Bayliss had his first ride aboard Churchill’s Choice in the Hawkesbury Cup and Doyle was keen for Bayliss to again be aboard this weekend.
“I got Regan to have a sit on her at the trials before he rode her in the Hawkesbury Cup and he felt that flat spot she can hit and he got her through that period in Hawkesbury Cup,” he said.
“He got on his bike quite early and I think that was the difference between winning the race or running a nice fourth or fifth, which is what she’d been normally doing.”
Churchill’s Choice was among 37 Scone Cup nominations, joined by the past two winners Tavi Time and Sky Lab, Group 2 Ajax Stakes winner Cristal Clear, last year’s Queensland Guineas winner Depth Of Character and Formal Display, who is chasing four wins on the trot.
