Pollard eyes stop-over win in staying test for Zuleika at Newcastle

Eagle Farm trainer Todd Pollard hopes to turn ambitions of victory with his first runner at Flemington into a consolation win worth just as much in prize money on the way home when Zuleika heads to Newcastle on Saturday.

Pollard plans to back up Zuleika in the $300,000 The Beauford (2300m) on the Hunter program, seven days after the four-year-old mare finished four lengths away in eighth in the group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) on Champions Stakes day.

Zuleika gave Pollard, a former foreman for Annabel Archibald in Sydney then Brisbane before going out on his own this year, a first stakes race win in June when taking out the listed Tattersall’s Gold Crown (2100m) at Eagle Farm.

She was then second last first-up at home over 1400m at listed level before finishing third in the Filante Handicap (1600m) at Randwick with the Matriarch as the goal.

“Definitely the target was always to get to the Matriarch,” Pollard said.

“We thought it was a suitable race and it was good for the big ownership group involved, they got a day out at Flemington on a big day in the carnival and it was our first runner down there in our first year of training, so it’s all good fun and experiences along the way, and a good learning curve.

“She ran OK, but she probably raced a bit fresh. I thought she might finish a bit closer to them, but it wasn’t a bad run, so we were keen on the idea of backing her up and there wasn’t a lot around.

“One option was to go to the Zipping Classic, but that was obviously going to be very strong. There wasn’t much around anywhere over the next few weeks so we thought we’ll look to this. We threw a nomination in and it looks like a race she can be competitive in.”

Pollard struck success in Sydney when All Kinds Of Folk won at Randwick in July. Midnight In Tokyo backed up a few weeks later with victory there in the group 3 Show County Quality.

The ex-pat Kiwi believes Zuleika ($6.50) could thrive over further and give him a win with his first Newcastle runner. The Beauford, won by Asterix ahead of subsequent Epsom Handicap winner God’s Window last year, had attracted a field of 11. Zuleika has gate 10 with Alysha Collett to ride.

“She’s probably been a horse we’ve been keen to get up over a staying trip for a while now,” he said.

“We’ve always thought she’d stay, and this will be a good guide as whether she will or not, so fingers crossed.

“It’s obviously a track that’s got a great reputation. Even though it’s a provincial track, it’s always been talked about as one of the best tracks in NSW. The track plays fair and horses get their chance.

“We’ll see how the race plays out. She’s a horse that likes to go forward and although she’s drawn wide, they get a good run in and they can sort themselves out.”

Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Savvy Spy, also on the back-up, was a $2.90 favourite for the Beauford after a third consecutive win.

Pollard also had All Kinds Of Folk among acceptances at Newcastle, in the second, but the wet-track specialist could race instead at Doomben on Saturday.