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The key to Coolmore Classic favourite Annavisto chasing the Rosehill group 1 for mares on Saturday was a change to the Melbourne autumn program.
The Reliable Man five-year-old won the Tressady Stakes last year when it was run in March, which led trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent jnr to program a Sydney campaign that resulted in Annavisto running fourth in the Emancipation Stakes and being run down late by Nimalee in the Queen Of The Turf.
Annavisto explodes away to win the Tony Bourke Memorial at Flemington last month.Credit:Getty
“They moved the Tressady back a couple of weeks and it meant that the two group 1s in Sydney fitted perfectly into her program,” Kent said. “That really suited us because we believe she is a group 1 mare. She showed that last year in the Queen Of The Turf, and we get two cracks at this year.
“She gets a shot in the Coolmore on the same three-week break she had last year, and then we can go four weeks to the Queen Of The Turf, which suits because she is sensational fresh.”
Annavisto was only seen once more in 2022 after the Queen Of The Turf, when she started favourite in the Tatts Tiara, led and weakened late to be beaten by seven lengths. She missed the spring after getting a nasty foot abscess while spelling in wet conditions but returned by careering away with the Tressady Stakes, which was known as the Tony Bourke Memorial this year, again by 3½ lengths.
“We decided she was too valuable to have a rushed campaign and gave her a good break, and we have been rewarded,” Kent said. “She has come back stronger and a better mare, and she was dynamic first up in the Tressady at Flemington. It was probably a better win than her win last year. She really put them away.
“She is going to get good ground instead of the wet tracks of last year, which will help because, although she gets through the heavy, she is a free-running mare.
“The only thing that went wrong was getting the visitors’ draw for Saturday [of gate 16]. There were a few choice words in the office when that came through because she is going really well.”
Price and Kent have booked Nash Rawiller as the partnership looks for its eighth group 1 success and, even from the wide draw, the plans won’t change tomorrow. Annavisto will be ridden positively and use her speed, and the 1500m trip should be perfect for her.