Having forfeited an Everest berth due to injury, Sunshine In Paris will be looking to make up for lost time when she kicks off her latest campaign in the Group 1 The Galaxy.
The mare secured the slot held by Aquis following her stunning first-up win in the Sheraco Stakes in September before a minor leg issue prematurely ended her spring, and with it the Everest dream of connections.
Already a Group 1 winner of the Surround Stakes at three, Sunshine In Paris will get a chance to serve a reminder of her talents this autumn with trainer Annabel Neasham outlining plans for an ambitious sprint program.
“She’s going to go first-up to The Galaxy and then hopefully we go T J (Smith Stakes), All Aged (Stakes) with her,” Neasham said.
Neasham has been rapt with Sunshine In Paris at home, the mare tuning up for her return with two barrier trials, the latest at Hawkesbury on Monday.
While the first to admit the 1100m of The Galaxy is short of the four-year-old’s best distance, Neasham hopes that can be offset by a solid tempo.
“The 1100, I worry is maybe a bit sharp for her, but she’ll be fresh and it’s often a race where there’s a lot of speed,” Neasham said.
“If she can be smoking her pipe out the back, it just might be a race where she can be a genuine chance, even though I reckon the distance is a fraction short.
“Just the way that race could be run might suit her.”
One of five Group 1 races on Saturday’s Golden Slipper program, The Galaxy is set to be hotly contested.
Along with Sunshine In Paris, the race will be the return point for Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Ozzmosis, while smart colt King’s Gambit also heads there as he looks to bounce back from his defeat as favourite in the Oakleigh Plate.
Neasham will also give consideration to nominating filly Learning To Fly, who she felt raced “a fraction flat” when finishing fourth in the Surround Stakes at her second run from an extended spell.
“It was one of those typical, slightly flat runs and the track was playing a bit soft, I’m not sure she liked that either,” Neasham said.
“I haven’t quite worked out where we’re going with her yet. We’ll freshen her up and The Galaxy could be an option.
“If not, maybe we’ll go to one of the three-year-old races here, the Arrowfield (Stakes) or the P J Bell and then look at the (Robert) Sangster.”