Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Sunlight will bypass the Magic Millions Carnival at the Gold Coast in January and be set for the Group 1 sprints at Flemington during the 2019 Melbourne Autumn Carnival.
Sunlight, above in white colours with marroon stars, will be set for the Lightning and the Newmarket at Flemington. Photo by Steve Hart.
Sunlight was the star of the 2018 Magic Millions Carnival with a scintillating win in the $2m Magic Millions 2yo Classic (1200m) but trainer Tony McEvoy has decided against taking the three year filly back to the Gold Coast in January.
McEvoy sent Sunlight straight to the spelling paddock after she beat the colts in her win down the Flemington straight in the Group 1 $1m Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) on November 3 and is keen to see the filly there again in the Autumn.
McEvoy will prepare Sunlight for the two Group 1 sprints down the Flemington straight in the Autumn, the $750,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) on February 16 and the $1.25m Lexus Newmarket Handicap (1200m) three weeks later.
“Sunlight is at my farm in the Barossa and she’s having a month off and then I will train her for the Lightning Stakes on the 16th of February,” McEvoy told AAP.
“That’s her target.
“She’s a Group One winner and it just didn’t give her much time to get to the Magic Millions so I’ve decided to abort the Magic Millions, which is a bit sad because she’s so good there.
“She can handle the heat, she handles that way of going and she’s unbeaten on that track, but now that she’s won that Group One it just changes her a little bit.
“And I’d like to set her for the Lightning and the Newmarket and then think about The Everest (October).”
Regular rider Luke Currie has built up a great affiliation with Sunlight and has been aboard the Zoustar filly for seven of her eight wins, including her last start win in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
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