Peter Moody is wasting no time finding out where Sheza Alibi fits among Australia’s best, sending his Doncaster Mile winner straight at Autumn Glow in Saturday’s Group 1 Winx Stakes at Randwick.
The 1,400-meter feature opens the Australian Group 1 season and brings together two of the country’s most exciting mares, with Autumn Glow returning from the only defeat of her career and Sheza Alibi stepping into open weight-for-age company for the first time.
Moody had initially been expected to start Sheza Alibi in the Memsie Stakes a week later, but her work convinced the stable she was ready to head to Sydney.
Luke Nolen was quoted in a Racing NSW article as saying: “She’s ticked every box at home and we’ll find out whether she measures up come 4.30pm Saturday.
“She just goes through her paces at work and in her trials, she doesn’t excel but she’s more than pleased me with everything that I’ve done on her back this time in.
“There is improvement there but she is ready to run well for sure.”
Sheza Alibi has not raced since producing a devastating finish from near last to win the Doncaster Mile by more than four lengths in April, adding a second Randwick Group 1 over 1,600 meters to her record.
Nolen was unable to make her Doncaster weight, leaving Jamie Melham to take the ride, and the jockey was left stunned by what she felt.
“That was just incredible,” Melham was quoted in a Hong Kong Jockey Club article as saying. “I know she’s a good horse, but what she did then, I’ve never sat on a horse that’s given me a feel like that, and I’ve sat on some good ones. She’s a freak.”
Saturday gives that performance a different setting.
Autumn Glow won her first 11 starts before Chris Waller stretched her to 2,000 meters for the first time in April’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where she finished third. Waller subsequently accepted responsibility for getting her distance range wrong.
She now returns to 1,400 meters with a perfect four-from-four first-up record and two wins from two starts over the Randwick course and distance.
Her preparation has included two trials and an exhibition gallop at Rosehill.
“She is getting close to game day, and she is in the zone,” Waller was quoted in the Hong Kong Jockey Club article as saying.
On the looming clash with Sheza Alibi, he added: “It should be a good race. You have to be prepared for anything.
“It’s just such an important starting point,’’ he said. “They’re all well prepared, they’ve been trialling for a number of weeks now and you’ve got to expect anything. You’ve got to be ready to run a tough 1400m at Group 1 level first-up.
“It’ll be interesting with Sheza Alibi there, it’ll be a good race won’t it. And that’s what I say, you’ve got to be prepared for everything. I’m ready for it.”
For Moody, taking on Autumn Glow now is deliberate.
Sheza Alibi’s major spring target is the A$10 million Golden Eagle and Saturday’s result will help determine how ambitious her path there can become.
“Let’s be honest, we’re taking on the best horse in the country with the best trainer in the country and the best jockey in the country,’’ Moody told SEN.
“If we can be ultra competitive, or lucky enough to beat them, the world’s our oyster and we can go anywhere full of confidence.
“If she beats us comprehensively we can duck and weave a bit and place our mare to advantage and not kid ourselves.
“She won a big handicap as a three-year-old with no weight on her back, and she was ultra impressive but Autumn Glow is the benchmark. We’re going to have to really lift the bar.”
Nolen is equally aware that Saturday is a different race to anything Sheza Alibi faced last season.
Sheza Alibi has drawn barrier one and Autumn Glow gate three.
