After a frustrating spring with Group One winner Mirjulisa lass, trainer Greg Hickman fears her autumn campaign will be thwarted by wet weather.
The mare has been entered for two races at Warwick Farm on Saturday, the Group Three Liverpool City Cup (1300m) and the Listed Wiggle Quality (1400m) for fillies and mares.
Mirjulisa Lass won the Storm Queen Stakes (2000m) but Hickman pulled the pin on the mare’s spring preparation after her third start when she beat just one runner home in the Hill Stakes.
He has been happy with her two recent barrier trial placings and is keen to see her back at the track but is hoping the sunny and windy conditions on Monday continue and the forecast rain stays away.
“If the weather stays like this we will run. If it’s a bog she won’t race,” Hickman said.
“We are ducking and diving with her. The A plan is the Brisbane Cup but the weather is a major player in her preparation and how we get there is the question.
“She has probably come in a bit late for the BMW. The Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the end of the Randwick carnival is a possibility.
“We have the options of taking her to Melbourne or Brisbane, wherever there is a dry track.
“She didn’t come up in the spring but I couldn’t be happier with her this time around. She looks enormous.
“She usually takes three or four runs to come to hand. It’s just a matter of where those runs are.”
The four-year-old was one of 17 nominations for the Liverpool City Cup with 28 entered for the Wiggle.
“If she starts in the Liverpool City Cup, Rodney Quinn will ride but he is committed in the Wiggle,” Hickman said.
“It is hard with a lot of the top jockeys in Melbourne on Saturday or committed to the big stables so I don’t know which way we will go.”
Happy Zero, who has done most of his racing in Hong Kong where he scored all his eight wins, is the highest rated horse in the Liverpool City Cup on 110.
Triple Group One winner Yosei is entered for both the Cup and the Wiggle and is also nominated for a Listed race at Flemington.
Secret Admirer is also entered for both Warwick Farm races while her stablemate All Silent is in the Cup.
