Michael Dee will ride Tiger Shark on Saturday and it’s fair to say Stradbroke Handicap-winning trainer Natalie McCall has had luck with Victorian jockeys before.
Tiger Shark. Picture: Grant Peters – Trackside Photography.
Natalie McCall has had a bit of luck with Group 1-winning Victorian jockeys – remember Damien Oliver and River Lad winning the Stradbroke Handicap a decade ago?
The Sunshine Coast horsewoman has again turned to a Victorian hoop on Saturday with Michael Dee booked to ride McCall’s last start winner Tiger Shark in the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas (1200m) which will be raced at the Sunshine Coast.
Damien Oliver and Natalie McCall after scoring the Stradbroke Handicap with River Lad in 2014. Picture: AAP.
Tiger Shark, the filly who races for Boost Juice tycoon Jeff Allis and wife Janine, was a boilover winner of the Mick Dittman Plate as she upstaged more fancied rivals when scoring at $26.
Barrier 17 of 18 doesn’t worry McCall too much in the Guineas on Saturday.
But she concedes she is on weather watch as the filly doesn’t want a bottomless Sunshine Coast track.
McCall needs the track to improve from the worst side of heavy as she fears if the race is a slog it will become more of a 1400m style event and play into the hands of some other rivals.
“There doesn’t look to be a huge amount of pace in the race so I don’t think she would have too much trouble getting across from the barrier,” Group 1-winning trainer McCall said.
“There doesn’t look to be a huge amount of pressure in the race. Look, there is a chance we won’t run if it stays in that really heavy range.
“If it is really heavy it could become a bit of a slog and be like a 1400m race and that would suit the others. We are totally dependent on what rain comes.
“It’s only early in her preparation and I don’t want to ruin her for the rest of the preparation.”
Michael Dee has been booked to ride Tiger Shark in the Gold Coast Guineas. Picture: Getty Images.
Regardless of what happens Saturday, McCall said there were plenty of options going forward into the winter carnival for three-year-old Tiger Shark.
She could head towards fillies and mares races or be deployed in three-year-old carnival races.
“It’s more the state of the track on Saturday that could put us off, if it is too wet, rather than the barrier as I’m not too worried about it,” McCall said.
Tiger Shark is a $23 chance in the Guineas; a race where horses trained in the southern states dominate the betting market.