QUEANBEYAN trainer Garry Clarke says he will likely set promising three-year-old Oh So Adorable for Black Opal Stakes Day in Canberra next March.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But Clarke confirmed the flying filly will return to Sydney in 2014 after the daughter of Hurricane Stroller was beaten by a nose at Canterbury last Friday.
In just her second start in town, Oh So Adorable was beaten at the line by $19 Kiwi outsider Niobe in the $40,000 Maybell Group Handicap (1100m).
The result took Oh So Adorable’s record to four wins and a place from six starts.
“She’ll go back up there and she’ll win,” Clarke said of his stable star. “She got beaten by the bob of the head [on Friday] and they were giving her a big wrap up there.
“There’s a race on Black Opal Day [in March] for three-year-olds over 1000m but then it’ll be back up to Sydney.
“And if we do decide to bring her back from the paddock a bit earlier, we might take her back up to Sydney straight up.”
Oh So Adorable was put straight out to paddock following Friday’s run and won’t return to work until January.
Clarke, meanwhile, enjoyed a less successful day out with four-year-old Saharamar after the mare suffered a recurrence of the back problems that had plagued her earlier career.
The four-race winner faded to finish dead last in her run at Canterbury on Friday after pulling a muscle in her back midrace while running fourth.
The injury is unwelcome news for Clarke after the Markane-sired galloper had appeared to have overcome such concerns during a long spell mid-year.
“We thought we had it right when she won at Queanbeyan [in October] and nearly broke the track record but it looks like it’s back to the drawing board with her,” Clarke said.
