Annabel Neasham considers herself lucky to have had an established star walk into her stable not long after banner horse Zaaki vacated the premises and Amelia’s Jewel will resume in a race Neasham used successfully with the imported gelding.
The five-year-old mare will have her first start for Neasham and training partner Rob Archibald in Saturday’s $300,000 Group 2 Tramway Stakes at Randwick.
Zaaki won the 1400-metre race in 2021 and 2022 after campaigning in Brisbane and Neasham considers it a great starting point for horses who campaign beyond the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
“It should be a perfect race to kick her off in, although obviously we’re still getting to know her,” Neasham said.
“It was the same for Zaaki. When you go through to Queensland, my thing for him was to give him a break and the Winx Stakes was a bit early.
“It’s (Tramway) really the only other 1400-metre kick-off point.
“If they’ve run in the autumn and had a nice break, the Winx Stakes is probably a lovely amount of spacing into the Seven (Stakes).
“But when they’ve had a short break, I think the Tramway is a nice option.”
Saturday’s event will be Amelia’s Jewel’s first start since finishing down the track in the Group 1 Sangster Stakes (1200m) on May 11.
The daughter of Siyouni has been brought up to speed with two trials, the first a second placing over 900m at Warwick Farm on August 12 before an impressive win over 1000m at Hawkesbury last Monday.
Amelia’s Jewel will be one of two Tramway Stakes runners for Neasham and Archibald, who will also start My Oberon.
The Dubawi eight-year-old has not started since his 10th placing in last year’s Cox Plate, but has accompanied Amelia’s Jewel to her two trial sessions and won a 1250m trial at Hawkesbury.
The Neasham/Archibald pair is among 19 entries for the Tramway Stakes, joined by Missile Stakes runner-up Arctic Glamour, cult figure Democracy Manifest, Queensland visitor Freedom Rally and Group 1 winner Kovalica.
It is one of three Group 2 races on the Randwick card, along with the Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) and Furious Stakes (1200m), while Giga Kick, Bella Nipotina and Private Eye are among 15 entries for the $1 million Group 3 Concorde Stakes (1000m).