Whether Shangri La Impact ever gets back to Stakes grade remains to be seen, but Tom Charlton is confident he has found the right race for her to continue her progression at Randwick this Saturday.
The daughter of Staphanos will contest the $160,000 B&J Guttering & Metal Roofing BM72 Handicap (1800m).
The fillies and mares event will be her first run against her own sex since last year’s Group 1 Queensland Oaks and Charlton delighted with the set-up for the four-year-old.
“It’s the perfect race for her really; fillies and mares, a nice distance for her on home track, so I think it looks a nice option,” Charlton said.
It will be Shangri La Impact’s fifth run for Charlton, having initially been trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
Waterhouse and Bott tested her in the Queensland Oaks after back-to-back wins in May last year but she beat home only one rival in that 2200m event.
Shangri La Impact won on debut for Charlton, successful in BM64 grade at Kembla Grange on March 3 before a third placing at Newcastle and another win, over 1800m in BM72 grade, at the Randwick Kensington meeting on April 27.
She returned to Saturday grade at Rosehill on May 30 but dropped out late to finish sixth, beaten 6-1/4 lengths, after overdoing it in the early stages.
Nash Rawiller replaces Dylan Gibbons in Saturday’s event, in which Shangri La Impact will jump from barrier two, and Charlton is hoping for a more economical run.
“She doesn’t have to lead but she naturally has herself in a forward position,” he said.
“Last time we just went a bit too quick, we had a bit of pressure on our outside and you could see the race how it developed that it suited the backmarkers.
“So I think there was a genuine excuse and I think also getting back on a sounder surface might be more beneficial as well.”
Shangri La Impact holds down the second line of betting according to leading Aussie betting sites in Saturday’s event, which is headed by Chris Waller’s lightly-raced British mare Nasebah.
