Startantes, who has been named as one of the Champion Three-year-Old Filly category finalists for the upcoming Australian Horse Of the Year Awards for the 2021/22 season, will be one of three runners, along with Prince of Boom and Rothfire, that trainer Robert Heathcote will send south to embark on spring carnival feature race campaigns.
Startantes had the distinction of beating older horses when she won the Group 1 Tatts Tiara at Eagle Farm as a three-year-old, and her form prior to that, with the likes of a nose defeat in the Group 1 Surround Stakes and her third place finish in the Flight Stakes, simply amplified the fact that the now four-year-old mare is a top-class performer.
‘I’ve just been busily working away, getting her ready for her trip down to Sydney next week,” said Heathcote.
“She’s going to race September 10, in the Group 2 Sheraco Stakes … set weights, penalties over 1200m at Rosehill. Two weeks later she runs in the Golden Pendant … a 1400m Group 2 … set weights and penalties.
“Then she will run in the Silver Eagle on October 8 at Randwick, which is the $1 million forerunner to the Golden Eagle.
“After that … I will have to think about it, because she has an invitation for the $2 million The Invitation, but that race is in an awkward position because it is on October 22 … a week before the Golden Eagle at Rosehill.
“Now I have got to ask myself the question, if Startantes is going really well at that stage, the Golden Eagle is worth $10 million, so do I run her there or do I run her in The Invitation where, bearing in mind that, as a Group 1 winner she will carry the Group 1 penalty of 4kg … will carry 59kg … meaning she will have to give a horse like Icebath, who won last year’s inaugural running of The Invitation 2kg.
“So, at the weights she is poorly off there, but there are only twelve horses in it.
“I’ll have to weigh that one up. I’ll look at the Golden Eagle two weeks out … which is worth $6 million to the winner … and decide, realistically, whether I think Startantes is a genuine winning chance, or not.
“At this stage though, I am buoyed by the form we saw on Saturday with Fangirl racing well, Jamaea racing well, Hinged racing well … so I think there is enough evidence showing that the form of the three-year-olds last year is very good.
“I’ve got a choice to make … but it is a good problem to have,” concluded Heathcote.
*Prince Of Boom and Rothfire will head to Melbourne where they will both kick off the Spring Carnival campaigns at Moonee Valley on September 3 … in the Listed Chautauqua and the Group 2 McEwen Stakes respectively.
