Italy & Circular Bid For Sweet Success
Juvenile fillies Italy and Circular step up in class for the six-furlong Group Two Les Johnson Memorial Sweet Embrace Stakes at Warwick Farm, Australia, on Saturday, February 28.
Time/Date - 14.20hrs local time/Saturday, February 28, 2015
Racecourse/Country - Warwick Farm/Australia
Surface/Distance -Turf/6f
Juvenile fillies Italy and Circular step up in class for the six-furlong Group Two Les Johnson Memorial Sweet Embrace Stakes at Warwick Farm, Australia, on Saturday, February 28.
Italy (John O'Shea/James Doyle) made most of the running to score by half a length in a Canterbury maiden handicap over five and a half furlongs on February 11, having previously come home second in a five-furlong Randwick conditions race on November 8.
Circular (John O'Shea/James McDonald) battled away to take third on her debut in a six-furlong Randwick maiden on February 18.
John O'Shea reported: "Italy has definitely improved since her last start. The only issue for her is her wide barrier draw (nine) in a race which has a lot of speed.
"Her rider is going to have to negotiate a good path because she has trained on sufficiently to be more than competitive in this race.
"Circular, with the addition of winkers, will be ridden conservatively from gate 10. James (McDonald) is very happy with her progress - she has had a seasoning run over 1,200 metres and by definition that will allow her to be strong late.
"It is unfortunate that she has another wide gate (10) as it will pose some issues for us but we are still happy with the way she is going."
Italy and Circular take on nine other two-year-old fillies including debut winner Always Allison, Listed third Speak Fondly and Group Three fourth Micucci.
