Trainer Jerome Hunter is confident his Oaks bound filly has the turn of foot to fire in tomorrow’s Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.
Barb Raider will bring a slightly different formline heading into the Thousand Guineas tomorrow after winning impressively in the Oaks trial over 1800 metres last month.
The connections of Barb Raider made the decision to fork out the late acceptance fee of $27,500 just yesterday after seeing tomorrow’s field drop away in quality.
“It was a tough decision, it’s a lot of money to have a throw at the stumps. We had to weigh up what the field was going to be like,” said Hunter.
“She’s not a horse that’s an out and out grinder, she has got a kick and this field has dropped away quite a bit compared to other years.”
The Rebel Raider filly has drawn in perfectly in gate three and with Craig Williams onboard she looks very hard to beat.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better gate, especially the way she runs so it was a real bonus there.”
“Hopefully the two Waterhouse horses out wide will go across and put a bit of pressure on, just like what happened at Flemington it would be ideal if we could cruise up and at the top of the straight and may the best horse win,” said trainer Jerome Hunter.
The Flight Stakes runner-up Hinged is the current favourite for the Thousand Guineas with Zouzarella the second elect ahead of Barb Raider.
For your full Group 1 Thousand Guineas market head to TopSport.com.au.
