The prospect of a dry track and a suitable race give the durable and talented sprinter Generalife the opportunity to return to winning form in the G2 Southern Cross Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, February 13.
Time/Date - 15.05hrs local time/Saturday, February 13, 2016
Racecourse/Country - Randwick/Australia
Surface/Distance - Turf/1200m
The prospect of a dry track and a suitable race give the durable and talented sprinter Generalife the opportunity to return to winning form in the G2 Southern Cross Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, February 13.
Generalife (John O'Shea/James McDonald) tackles the race along with the consistent Vashka (John O'Shea/Tye Angland) with the trainer preferring the prospects of the former over the latter.
"Generalife deserves another Group win, he has good first-up stats and this looks like a nice race for him," O'Shea said.
"We've had him ready for a couple of weeks but the tracks have been a bit wet for him."
Generalife's nine wins include his most recent, in the G3 Star Kingdom Stakes, in which he beat the group performer Hot Snitzel into third place.
But perhaps his best effort of recent seasons came last winter when he was third in the G1 Stradbroke Handicap after jumping from barrier 15.
Vashka proved to be one of the stable's better performers last Spring winning twice at Stakes level, most recently in the G3 Monga Stakes at Caulfield where he led throughout.
Despite a racing pattern that places him near the lead, Vashka could be vulnerable at 1200m, according to O'Shea.
"He's not a six furlong (1200m) horse," he said.
"The way he was racing in the Spring was great, but under pressure in this company he's better suited at 1400m (7 furlongs)."
Among the opposition to the Godolphin pair in the Southern Cross are the G1 winner Tiger Tees who is well treated as the winner of 13 races, and the former Victorian Rich Enuff who has shown good trial form for his new stable.
