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Viadana Unlikely Makfi Starter.
Lance Noble has two entries in the Makfi Challenge Stakes, but neither is likely to be at Hastings on August 30.
The Group One event is already off Brave Centaur’s programme while the Matamata trainer said his ‘gut feeling’ was that Viadana wouldn’t be there.
“She came through the Foxbridge Plate really well and had a good puff afterwards. She wasn’t as forward as I thought and I don’t like the timing for the Makfi.”
Noble said his preferred options were to give Viadana a trial and run her next in the Group 1 Windsor Park Plate or head straight to Melbourne.
Brave Centaur, who was a bold fourth in the Foxbridge, will be going in a different direction.
“He went super, but he’s not going to get a start in the Makfi and there’s a Group Three race (Tramway Quality Handicap) over 1400 metres in Sydney on September 6 for him,” Noble said.
Pace Wins Out For Debutante
Feelin The Love’s raw ability is making up for her lack of size.
The Savabeel mare belied her pedigree with a recent first-up win over 800 metres at Avondale where she displayed a good turn of pace.
“She’s a tough little thing and she’s still got a lot to learn, but she has got natural speed,” trainer Tony Pike said.
Feelin The Love is out of a Pins mare, who is a sister to the Gr.2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup winner Gallopin and the family of the dual Gr.3 Canterbury Gold Cup winner and Gr.2 New Zealand Cup placegetter Size Ten.
The Graduate Making Himself Known
The Graduate’s latest success may fuel renewed overseas interest in the five-year-old.
The Ian Adams-trained gelding was recently under offer to Australian interests, but negotiations ground to a halt.
However, The Graduate’s subsequent Rating 65 win, which took his record to two victories and four placings from eight starts, at Awapuni last weekend may not go unnoticed.
The Graduate could now back up on his home track this weekend in either a $25,000 special conditions race or the Interprovincial Consolation (1600m). He is also nominated for the Interprovincial Challenge (1600m), but the other events are the more preferred options.