Trent Edmonds, like many in the racing industry, will miss the familiar confines of the old Moonee Valley track but is not disheartened by the timing of its redevelopment.
This Saturday, the Moonee Valley Racing Club is set to host its first Cox Plate meeting away from its traditional home, with Edmonds preparing his stable star, Extragalactic, for action at Flemington.
The highly-rated mare is slated to compete in the $300,000 Group 2 McEwen Stakes, a 1200-metre contest.
This will be her third appearance this campaign, with each preceding race having been held at Moonee Valley.
The four-year-old’s single prior start at the compact Moonee Ponds circuit occurred at the farewell Cox Plate Day meeting last year, where she finished ninth of twelve in the Listed Crockett Stakes (1200m).
“She’s a different horse from 12 months ago, but the day that she ran at The Valley in the Crockett on Cox Plate day last year, she didn’t quite get around it that well,” Edmonds commented.
“So I’m not complaining about the about the races not being there this year.
“I’m sure once it’s reconfigured and we’re back there, she’ll race there at some stage, but she’s going to butter up at Flemington on Saturday and she’s in good form.”
The Crockett Stakes represents one of only two starts where Extragalactic hasn’t finished in the placings from her nine-race career. The other was her fourth position in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) at Sandown at the start of her current campaign.
Her most recent run resulted in a second-place finish behind Jimmysstar in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.
Edmonds is pleased with the scheduling of the McEwen Stakes at Flemington, viewing it as an opportunity for the mare to experience the straight track and serve as an audition for more prestigious races at the same venue.
“It is an audition for possibly the Champions Sprint, or even the Lightning or Newmarket in the autumn.
“I wanted to give her a look down there for the future basically.
“It’ll be interesting, we’re obviously hopeful she’ll handle it, but there’s only one way we’re going to find out.
“Not that it’s dead straight, but she’s done a lot of work up the back at the turf club here (Pakenham) on what we call the rise track, which is like a dog leg and then straight for sort of 900 metres.
“We’ve done a little bit of work with her up there since the Manikato, she gets up there well, and I’m very happy with her.”
Extragalactic is among 14 entries for the McEwen Stakes, with potential rivals including Jigsaw, Splash Back, Mazu, Rey Magnerio, and Smooth Chino.
Betting markets for the McEwen Stakes are now open at online bookmakers.