Extragalactic’s pursuit of Group 1 success is set to commence this Saturday in the $750,000 Moir Stakes at Sandown.

Pakenham-based trainer Trent Edmonds will present the four-year-old mare for her initial outing since a narrow second-place finish behind Desert Lightning in The Goodwood, a 1000-metre weight-for-age event.

The outcome of The Goodwood was a hard lesson for Edmonds, but it has only strengthened his resolve to see the Deep Field filly achieve a breakthrough at the highest level.

Edmonds is convinced that Extragalactic has improved significantly during her spell between campaigns.

“I think she’s going better and I couldn’t have her any better for a first-up effort – she’s really on song and she’s right in the spot,” he stated.

“I’m really confident that I’ve got the right horse going there and she’s in the right space.

“She’s filling me with confidence, she’s really well and I can’t have any better.”

The Moir Stakes will be only the eighth appearance in Extragalactic’s career, where she has secured three wins and three second placings.

She is aiming to secure Edmonds’ first solo Black Type win since concluding his partnership with his father Toby, with whom he claimed the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap with Tyzone in 2020.

The Queenslander established his base at Pakenham midway through the 2023/24 season, which was approximately when he acquired Extragalactic for $160,000 at the Magic Millions’ Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

She was the only yearling Edmonds purchased at the 2024 edition of the renowned sale.

As the second foal from the Al Maher mare Alliterate, Extragalactic’s immediate family members do not boast extensive Black Type records, though significant names appear further down her lineage.

Her fourth dam, What Price Glory, is a half-sister to Steam Heat, who serves as the granddam of The Everest victor Yes Yes Yes and the dual Group 1 winner In Her Time (Black Caviar Lightning and The Galaxy).

These established bloodlines, combined with her physical presentation, made Extragalactic a highly sought-after prospect for Edmonds.

“She just looked sharp,” he recalled of his initial observation.

“She wasn’t overly big, but she was a good athlete that had a really good, long, fluent walk and great hind quarter.

“I thought, ‘alright, you’re obviously a pretty good sort and you’re well put-together, even though you’re not overly big, so I’ll have a crack’.”

Extragalactic, born in August 2022, is effectively part of the final progeny group from the sire Deep Field.

He stood for one final season at Newgate Farm in the year Extragalactic was born, producing only seven live foals, with five of those subsequently being named.

“They’re really good, versatile, tough stock and, basically, that was one of the reasons I wanted to buy her,” Edmonds mentioned.

“I liked the sire, I knew that he wasn’t serving anymore, or that her crop was going to be one of his last full teams, and she was in my price range.”

It was not Edmonds’ initial intention to target the Moir Stakes first-up for Extragalactic, but she enters the race without a lead-up run after being scratched from the Group 3 Carlyon Stakes (1000m) on August 22 due to the Heavy track conditions.

The decision was not based on an inability to handle a wet track, which she has a chance to encounter this weekend, but rather a strategic choice to avoid a heavy surface for her preparatory run.

“I scratched her from the Carlyon purely because I didn’t want to rip the guts out of her first-up at 1000, knowing that my first big target for the preparation was in two weeks’ time,” Edmonds explained.

“I wasn’t running away from the Heavy, I was trying to protect her and have her cherry ripe this week rather than trying to patch her back up after a Heavy track run.”

Extragalactic has finished second in both her starts on Soft tracks, including The Goodwood which was run on a Soft 6. Deep Field is recognised as a sire of strong wet-track performers, with a 34.2 percent winners-to-runners ratio and a 16 percent winning strike-rate on Heavy tracks.

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