Peria Princess to try her luck in Great Northern Foal Stakes Tue, 21 May 2013

The lightly tried Peria Princess is set to compete for black-type in Saturday’s Listed Great Northern Foal Stakes at Ellerslie.

Trained by Toby Autridge and Cyril Goodwin at Matamata, the two-year-old will back up from Te Rapa last Saturday, when she rattled home for fourth behind impressive first starter Sacred Park.

“She’s come through the race really well,” said Autridge. “She’s had the right build-up.”

That was the deciding factor in choosing the Ellerslie juvenile event as the next start for the King’s Chapel filly. “It all depended on how she ran at Te Rapa and how she pulled up. We’ll back her up on that effort,” added Autridge.

The chestnut’s debut run was of similar merit when she settled at the rear of the field and produced a strong sprint to finish second to the talented Goodn’targ on her home track.

Both runs to date have been on heavy tracks and Autridge hopes the forecast for rain throughout the week holds true.

“She’s shown a liking for heavy tracks so far, therefore rain is good for us.”

The Autridge-Goodwin training duo kicked off their week with a win and a second at Tauranga yesterday. Sateka clawed her way to victory and Lucky Ruby just went down a short head to Beauty Glow, ridden by Reese Jones. Ironically, Jones will be aboard Peria Princess on Saturday, looking for his third black-type win this season.

With the nominations being light on numbers and exposed form, the opportunity to grab black-type success presents itself in Saturday’s 1400-metre stakes event. Of the eight initial nominations, only the Roger James-trained Hera and Keith and Brendon Hawtin-trained Devour have saluted the judge.

Entries for all races at Ellerslie, plus those at Trentham on Saturday and Riccarton on Friday, have been left open.