Leading trainer Tony McEvoy is confident exciting filly Mac ‘N’ Cheese can continue to defy her pedigree in Saturday’s $127,750 Group 3 Auraria Stakes (1800m) at Morphettville.
The half-sister to Group 1 sprinter Exceedance is unbeaten in her three-year-old campaign and McEvoy said there was no reason why she couldn’t successfully continue stepping up in distance.
“She’s very talented, very exciting,’’ McEvoy said.
“(She’s) out to new territory again but, looking at the race the other day (the Clare Lindop Stakes) she really started to chew up the ground near the winning post.
“She’s trained on superbly,’’ he said.
McEvoy won the 2020 Auraria with Silent Sovereign and this year’s edition looms as an exciting preview to the upcoming Group 1 Australasian Oaks at Morphettville in two weeks’ time.
Mac ‘N’ Cheese sits on the second line of betting behind Bon’s A Pearla who was placed in the Australian Guineas behind Hitotsu, while the Peter and Paul Snowden have the exciting My Whisper chasing four wins in succession.
The McEvoy stable are hoping for a big day as Elite Icon steps out earlier in the day.
“(He) should be four from four,’’ McEvoy said.
“He’s good young horse, he’s got incredible speed and talent,’’ he said.
And they’ll saddle up a filly who has shown plenty at home but is still yet to break through when two-year-old Naiconi tackles he $107,250 Dequetteville Stakes (1050m).
“We took her to Ballarat and was beaten by a smart young horse (Crosswinds) who went on and won a Stakes race at Moonee Valley,’’ McEvoy said.
“We decided to go low again and went to maiden and (she) found one to beat her again.
“We’ve put blinkers on her, her work tells us she’s a stakes class filly and here we are,’’ he said.