Blueberry Hill back to best: Birchley
Stakes-winning filly Blueberry Hill’s road back to Group One company has been a bumpy one but trainer Liam Birchley believes she is finally ready to show her best.
After Blueberry Hill won the Group Two Champagne Classic at Doomben in May last year, Birchley thought he had a genuine Group One filly on his hands.
Blueberry Hill was then a good second in the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes and an unlucky sixth to Press Statement in the Group One J J Atkins.
Birchley had planned to take Blueberry Hill to Melbourne for the winter but she didn’t spell well and after coming back in to work in September was eventually turned out without a run.
Blueberry Hill came into work in March and gradually worked back into form to win win the Listed Gai Waterhouse Stakes at Ipswich last week.
The win has prompted Birchley to give her another chance in Group One company in the Tatts Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
“She has had a series of setbacks on her way back to this point. But she was good last Saturday and at her best she deserves a crack at the top mares,” Birchley said.
“The blinkers came off her in the Waterhouse and it seemed to do the trick. And the fact the track was soft at Ipswich was a bonus.”
“I’ve always considered her a class horse and the Tiara is the last Group One of this season. Of course there isn’t much else around for her.”
Blueberry Hill is one of several horses Birchley trains for breeder Peter Marshall who runs Marshall Thoroughbreds.
The filly has already won $328,550 but the real bonus in a win or placing on Saturday will be the value it adds to Blueberry Hill’s offspring when she becomes a broodmare.
She is at $23 for the Tiara with Azkadellia firming to $2.30 to atone for her Stradbroke Handicap failure.
Birchley has decided to keep three-year-old Hardline to his own age group on Saturday in the Winning Edge Hcp (1200m).
Hardline, who won the 2015 Karaka Million at Ellerslie, has had two wind operations but showed he was coming back to form with a first-up third in the Listed Lightning Hcp (1050m) at Doomben two weeks ago.
“I also had him in the Group Three Healy Stakes on Saturday but I decided he would be better in three-year-old company at this stage,” Birchley said.
He will rely on Rock Royalty in the Healy and hopes the track is not too wet.
“Rock Royalty can handle softish going but not too soft,” Birchley said.