Winx’s half-sister City Of Lights will have her next start this week, but whether it is at Randwick’s Kensington track or Rosehill is yet to be decided.
The emerging mare has been paid up for the Anzac Day Cup (1800m) on Thursday and the Matt Behrmann Handicap (1800m) at Rosehill two days later, both races offering similar prizemoney.
As of lunchtime on Wednesday, trainer Joe Pride was still weighing up which way to go and his decision will impact markets with City Of Lights a $3.40 favourite for the Kensington feature.
“I’m not wiping it out. She has to carry a bigger weight from a worse barrier, but it’s good prizemoney,” Pride said of the Anzac Day Cup.
“I’ve got a lot of time for her and I’m looking forward to running her again, I’m just not sure where it’s going to be yet.
“But wherever it is, she is going to be hard to beat.”
While City Of Lights will always be in the shadow of her famous sibling, she is building a handy record in her own right.
She has won four of her seven starts and was far from disgraced at her stakes company debut when beaten two lengths by stablemate Lekvarte in the Group 3 Aspiration Quality (1600m) last month.
The four-year-old was an emergency for the JRA Plate (2000m) at Randwick on Saturday but didn’t gain a start, although Pride wasn’t unhappy given the deteriorating track conditions on the day.
The trainer is keen to give City Of Lights another stakes opportunity in the coming weeks, provided she runs to expectations at her next appearance.
“I’m pretty confident she wants a staying trip this mare, so the Gosford Cup would be an option but there’s a good chance she would go to Queensland,” he said.
“I’ll know more after this next run, but she seems to be coping really well.”
Chad Schofield has ridden City Of Lights in five of her six starts since joining Pride’s stable and will partner her if she runs on Thursday.
Reece Jones has been booked for the weekend with Schofield in Adelaide for the Group 1 mount on Learning To Fly in the Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m).
Pride also has Bullets High in the Anzac Day Cup but says he is leaning towards taking him to Kembla Grange on Saturday.