Lindsay Park’s head trainer David Hayes is expecting his smart filly Rimraam to be very competitive when she races for the first time in Sydney in Saturday’s Group 1 $500,000 James Boag’s Premium Surround Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
Rimraam, above, will be competitive in the Surround Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Rimraam only won her maiden in the early part of the 2017 Spring Carnival but did perform well during the Melbourne Cup Carnival with a third to LuvaLuva in the Group 2 $300,000 G.H.Mumm Wakeful Stakes (2000m) at Flemington.
The Commands filly resumed for the Autumn with a first up win in the Group 3 $150,000 The Vanity (1400m) at Flemington on February 17 and Hayes said that she has continued to improve on the training tracks.
“She has trained on really well,” Hayes said.
Rimraam will again be running over the 1400m and while Hayes thinks that she is ready to tackle 1600m, he is confident that she will be very competitive sticking to the same distance as The Vanity.
“Her first try in Sydney and probably would be ideal at a mile but I am expecting her to be competitive,” said Hayes who trains in partnership with his son Ben Hayes and nephew Tom Dabernig.
Rimraam has drawn barrier three in the eleven horse Surround Stakes field and will be ridden again by Kerrin McEvoy who was aboard the filly for her third placing in the Wakeful Stakes and when she finished seventh to Pinot in the Group 1 $1m Kennedy Oaks (2500m) at Flemington five days later.
Early betting for the Surround Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au has Rimraam at the healthy double figure odds of $18 while the James Cummings trained Alizee is the short priced favourite at $2.20 on race eve.
Alizee has drawn awkwardly at barrier ten and will be ridden again by regular rider Glyn Schofield who was aboard the Sepoy filly’s first up win in the Group 2 $200,000 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on February 17.
Cummings said that Alizee has come through her first up run in great shape and he is expecting another top performance from the Group 1 Flight Stakes winner.
“She bounced out of the Light Fingers in good style, she’s feeling really good about herself and she seems to have come on again since last weekend,” Cummings said.
“She turned in a very impressive piece of work at Osborne Park on Tuesday morning.”
But we couldn’t be more impressed with the way she’s gone about her preparation so far.”
“There’s an air of confidence about her, she looks set to go.”
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