Humma Humma tunes up for busy campaign
Trainer John McArdle plans to raise the bar for sprinter Humma Humma who resumes at Caulfield.
Keen to capitalise on Humma Humma’s liking for travel, John McArdle has pencilled in a four-state program for the mare ahead of her campaign launch at Caulfield.
Humma Humma returns in Saturday’s W J Adams Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield where she was successful during a brief spring campaign.
It was a preparation that followed an exhaustive autumn and winter program that took Humma Humma to races in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
McArdle says the mare is in line to follow a similar path this year.
Humma Humma began last autumn with two runs in Melbourne, including a win at The Valley, before contesting the Fireball Stakes at Randwick in Sydney.
A month later she went to Morphettville where she scored at Listed level.
She had two more Adelaide starts before being taken to Brisbane for her last start before a spell.
McArdle is now looking to raise the bar with Humma Humma, who holds an entry for the Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 7.
But the trainer said she was unlikely to start in that Group One race and he was instead leaning towards the Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield on February 22.
“She was put in the Newmarket just in case, but she’s not much good at Flemington,” McArdle said.
“So it will be this race and then hopefully to the Oakleigh Plate and after that we’re open to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide.
“We’ll let her tell us.”
While McArdle sees Humma Humma purely as a sprinter and she is yet to race beyond 1200 metres in her 18 starts, the trainer is open to stretching her out in distance.
“We’ll see what she does during the campaign,” McArdle said.
“She may step out and have a go at something like the Stradbroke, but that will depend purely with what happens as we go along.
“There’s a lot of different options for her, but that will be worked out race by race.”
The Group One Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) is at Eagle Farm in June.