Alizee to run in G1 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill

Alizee will run in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill on 31 March in preference to the G2 Emancipation Stakes after the filly accepted for both races.

The decision came after lengthy analysis of each option with trainer James Cummings and the Godolphin team concluding that the Vinery offered the best lead-in to Alizee’s major autumn target, the G1 Coolmore Legacy Stakes (formerly the Queen Of The Turf) at Randwick on 14 April.

It was decided that the conditions of the Vinery, a race restricted to three-year-old fillies at level weights, was a better proposition than the Emancipation in which Alizee (Brenton Avdulla) was weighted closely behind such well-performed older fillies as Dixie Blossoms and Daysee Doom.

Another consideration was the 2,000m of the Vinery against the 1,500m of the Emancipation.

“Having been blocked for a run last start in the Coolmore Stud Stakes where she was lovely and relaxed makes me think she looks like she can conserve her energy over the 2000m,” Cummings said.

“If she can hold it together and be ready to unleash a big final furlong it would be   difficult for her opposition to hold her out.

“There’s no doubt that she’s got a lot of power and she’s a filly with a brilliant turn of foot.”

After resuming with a dynamic win in the G2 Light Fingers Stakes at 1,200m, Alizee went to the G1 Surround Stakes over a further 200m and appeared slightly dour at a vital stage before finishing off nicely in sixth place.

Then came her luckless effort in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes when her progress was blocked just as she was winding up and she went to the line under a tight hold.

“She has a really good target up ahead of her over 1,600m at weight-for-age and we thought her run in last start was excellent,” Cummings said.

“It looks like she might have gone ahead considerably since then and we’re pretty confident that she’ll run really well again.”

Alizee became the first G1 winner for her sire Sepoy when she won Sydney’s supreme spring G1 event for three-year-old fillies, the Flight Stakes following that run with a third placing in the G1 Thousand Guineas in Melbourne.