Trainer Ciaron Maher has insisted on a change of tactics for Aloisia who will push forward from a middle of the field barrier in the Group 1 $500,000 Treasury Brisbane Queensland Oaks (2200m) at Doomben on Saturday.
Aloisia, above, will have a change of tactics in the 2018 Queensland Oaks at Doomben. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Aloisia has drawn barrier seven in the sixteen horse Queensland Oaks field and Maher can see her getting plenty of opportunity for new jockey Damian Browne to take up a forward position which Maher thinks will suit her around Doomben.
Mark Zahra was a victim of circumstances last start when Aloisia was caught off the track from barrier twelve and eventually being shunted back to near the tail of the field before working home to finish in sixth position, only one and a half lengths behind the winner Sopressa in the Group 1 $500,000 Schweppes Oaks (Australasian Oaks) (2000m) at Morphettville on May 5.
“We’re definitely going forward on Saturday, especially where she’s at in her prep and she’s always run her best races from somewhere up the front,” Maher told The Courier-Mail.
“We aimed to ride her forward last start in the Schweppes Oaks.”
“We were forward, then Mark (Zahra) was three wide, he opted to drop into two wide and then it was like a funeral procession with others going past her. We ended up last and then she squirts home with the best sectionals.”
Aloisia was under a cloud early in the week when she arrived from Melbourne with an upset tummy but Maher said the filly recovered quickly and didn’t show any signs of distress when she worked on Tuesday morning with Nick Ryan’s three year old Mahamedeis who is entered in the Group 3 $150,000 Mullins Lawyers Grand Prix Stakes (2200m) at Doomben on Saturday.
“She worked with Mahamedeis and they went over the line together. I thought her recovery was good. She’s obviously very fit. We’re just ticking her over to the race,” Maher said.
Aloisia showed her class with a win in the Group 1 $500,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield during the 2017 Melbourne Spring Carnival but has been unplaced in three Oaks since, including a sixth in the Group 1 $1m Kennedy Oaks (2500m) at Flemington during the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Aloisia kicked off her Autumn Carnival campaign with a first up fifth in the Group 3 $150,000 The Vanity (1400m) at Flemington and at her fourth run in finished seventh to Unforgotten in the Group 1 $1m James Boag’s Premium Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick on day two of The Championships on April 14 before heading to Morphettville in Adelaide.
Aloisia has firmed in from $8.50 to $6.50 for the Queensland Oaks at Ladbrokes.com.au and is equal in the betting with the Chris Waller trained Savacool who is coming off a seventh placing in the Australasian Oaks.
The Waller trained Youngstar heads the market order at $3.10 in front of her stablemate Another Dollar at $5.50 while Australasian Oaks runner up Sheezdashing is the only other runners under the $10 mark at $8.
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