The little sister of Australia’s latest sprint queen is set to make her return at Bendigo.
Sisstar is a year younger than sibling Sunlight who last week won a third Group One race when successful in the William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley.
Like Sunlight, Sisstar is trained by Tony McEvoy who said the filly was ready to take to the track on Saturday in the VOBIS Gold Rush following an interrupted program.
A bruised heel resulted in a delayed start to Sisstar’s autumn campaign after one run in the spring.
Sisstar finished fourth in the Ottawa Stakes at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day with McEvoy blaming the atrocious conditions for her defeat.
The race was run in torrential rain and McEvoy said Sisstar couldn’t get a grip in the conditions over the later stages.
“She didn’t like the bog track and ran out of puff in the last 50 metres,” McEvoy said.
“But she’s shown us enough at home to be a more than handy horse.”
A bruised heel forced McEvoy to scratch Sisstar from a race at Moonee Valley on March 15 and Bendigo four days later.
“She seems good now,” McEvoy said.
“She’s had time to get over that and I don’t think that little setback will be too big a problem for her.
“I’m really looking forward to getting her back to the races.”
Saturday’s VOBIS Gold Rush is a lead-up to the inaugural running of The Showdown, a $1 million race for Super VOBIS nominated horses over 1200m at Caulfield on April 27.
McEvoy has the filly aimed at that big purse but is also aware being a sister to Sunlight some black type on her breeding page wouldn’t go astray.
For more experience Sisstar will head to Adelaide for the Listed Dequetteville Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville on April 13.
“She’s on a path towards the $1 million race but she’ll go over to Adelaide to run in a stakes race after this and then come back for Caulfield,” McEvoy said.
“Two weeks then another two weeks, I think that’s a program that should work well.”
