Midway through the Thousand Guineas meeting on Wednesday Sam Freedman had a wry smile on his face that suggested he and his father Anthony had erred in scratching Moko.
The Godolphin-owned filly was an acceptor in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) on Wednesday, but with a scratching deadline of 7.30am, a decision had to be made.
That decision was to scratch, but rain began falling soon after with the track downgraded to Soft before the first race and eventually into the Heavy range later in the day.
The Freedman father-and-son training operation had a back-up plan which is the Group 3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
“We wanted to run but we had to scratch by 7.30 and the track was a Good 4 at that time,” Freedman said.
“We wanted a heavy track, and she would have been a really good chance on that sort of ground given the way the track is playing.
“It’s a bit unfortunate. It would have been nice to scratch her two hours later if the rain didn’t come as it started raining around 8 o’clock.
“It was hard to know what to do, but initially the plan was to go to the Ethereal, so we’ll stay on track for that.”
Moko is still a maiden after seven starts, but has three second placings to her credit, including two on heavy tracks in Sydney in stakes races during the Autumn Carnival.
While Moko has an extra 400m to run on Saturday compared to the 1600m of the Thousand Guineas on Wednesday, Freedman does not see it being a problem.
Moko is coming off finishing seventh in the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on October 1 and is being aimed at potentially the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) and the Group 1 VRC Oaks (2500m), both at Flemington during the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
“The soft track will suit, it will be just whether she runs the trip as she hasn’t been to that trip before,” Freedman said.
“It’s two weeks to the Wakeful, if she runs the trip on Saturday, and then the Oaks, but she’s got to prove to us she will be able to see it out.”