Golden dreams on the line as Aghna tackles Group 3 Widden Stakes

Aghna

WARWICK Farm trainer Gabrielle Englebrecht is confident her promising filly Aghna won’t disappoint when she lines up in the $150,000 Widden Stakes (1100 metres) at Rosehill this Saturday.

Owned by Sona Bloodstock, the two-year-old heads into the race with just one start to her name, a gutsy third behind boom colt Capitalist in the Wyong Magic Millions Classic on December 17.

Steered to the line by leading hoop Craig Williams, Englebrecht said she was thrilled with the performance, finishing 4.8 lengths off the winner.

“It was a terrific run considering it was her first start in a race and at that point Capitalist had already won the Breeders Plate,” Englebrecht explained.

“The form has now stood up very strong as he (Capitalist) has gone on the win the $2M Magic Millions race so it makes her run look even better again.

“We always thought she had ability but to see her put it all together on race day and hit the line as well as she did was very encouraging.

Englebrecht and connections, including Racemedia CEO Kevin Pitstock, decided not to proceed with a tilt at the lucrative 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast, instead nurturing the bay filly towards another, more suitable goal.

“We had to consider how many runs she already had at that stage and how many more runs she was going to need within a short timeframe,” Englebrecht said.

“She had two trials and a race start in a short space of time and to qualify for the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast we would have had to send her back to the races fairly quickly.

“While it was a shame on missing out on the Magic Millions field, I didn’t think it was in her long-term best interest and in reality there are plenty of other good races around for her.”

The patience appears to have paid off. Aghna has since followed up her debut performance with an eye-catching trial at Randwick, where she treated a field of classy youngsters with contempt.

Englebrecht enthused she was ultra-impressed with the trial, which she believes will put Agnha in good stead ahead of this week’s Group 3 feature.

“The little hit out at the trials the other day was really good for her fitness – she just loved it out there and she pulled up really well – she is 110 per cent fit and ready for Saturday.

“I am extremely confident she has improved since her first start and Tye Angland, who rode her in her trial earlier this month, was very impressed with her so I think everything is on target for Saturday.”

Angland will remain on board the daughter of Foxwedge and Moonboat in the Widden Stakes where Englebrecht is hoping for an inside draw against some quality opposition.

“Ideally I would like to see her draw barrier two or three, an inside barrier would suit her given what a natural free runner she is, but that is something out of our control so we will just have to wait and see what she comes up with and formulate some good tactics to give us the best possible chance.

“It is going to be a tough race – Joe Pride’s filly (Kentucky Miss), which is also by Foxwedge, goes very well and it was impressive enough to suggest it will be hard to beat, while Rick Worthington’s filly (Honesty Prevails) looks very talented as well.

“These types of races are very hard to predict as a lot of them are either lightly raced or unraced, but I know I have a very talented filly to compete with anyway.”

All going well this Saturday, Englebrecht is hoping Aghna will live up to her potential and earn herself a crack at the highest accolade for Australian two-year-olds, the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200 metres) on March 19.

“Regardless of where she finishes this week she will head to the paddock for some sort of spell, but if she does happen to win we might just give her a short little freshen-up and continue on towards something like the Slipper.”

Irrespective of where she finishes this Saturday, Englebrecht says she is very excited to be involved with Aghna which looks to have a very bright future ahead of her on the racetrack.

“I am over the moon with her, she is a really promising filly, she is very professional to train and she is just really switched on.

“She loves being in work and loves her racing, and in turn we all love her and think she has a lot of potential.

“She is as tough as nails which is one of the things I really like about her and I am hoping that she can go on with it as I think she is a really exciting filly on the way up.”

The Group 3 Widden Stakes (1100 metres) is race two at Rosehill this Saturday.

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