Peter Moody is yet to lock in the second half of Sheza Alibi’s spring campaign, but he is sticking to the plan of a second-up run in the Makybe Diva Stakes with his stable star.
The four-year-old will have her first start in her adopted home state since her first-up win in the Group 2 Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m) last preparation in this Saturday’s $750,000 Group 1 over 1600 metres at Flemington.
She resumed with a second placing to Autumn Glow in the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m) and Moody pointed to her dominant win over Autumn Boy in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) as an example of the improvement she can make between starts early in the campaign.
“She had a week down at the beach after the trip (to Sydney), had a good gallop on Tuesday morning and she’ll have another one this week,” Moody said.
“She won the Guineas second-up at a mile last prep then won the Doncaster a month later at a mile.
“She doesn’t need racing to hold her fitness.”
How Sheza Alibi performs this weekend will help Moody and co-trainer Katherine Coleman formulate a plan on what to do next with her.
The daughter of Saxon Warrior is odds-on favourite for the $10 million Golden Eagle on October 31 and rated the main danger to Autumn Glow in the King Charles III Stakes two weeks earlier, but Moody said a rematch with Autumn Glow in that $5 million Group 1 was no guarantee.
“You’ve got the King Charles, but it’s only two weeks before the other one (Golden Eagle) and I hate the thought of two trips, because I won’t leave her there,” he said.
“If I run her two weeks before I’ll maybe even do it here, if I think she needs it.”
The only option for Sheza Alibi in Melbourne on October 17 is the Group 2 Tristarc Stakes, a $300,000 set weights and penalties event for mares over 1400m, while the $1 million Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) is at Caulfield seven days earlier.
The indecision around her campaign means Moody will keep alive the option of a start in the $6 million Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) and while she was an unlikely starter she will be paid-up for when first acceptances are taken on Tuesday.
