Four-Year-Olds Hold Heatherlie Stakes Key

Saturday’s running of the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) appears an interesting race on paper with four 4YOs set to take on the older horses. Three will be resuming on Saturday while the David Brideoake-trained Too Darn Discreet (Too Darn Hot-Maybe Discreet, by Shamardal) comes into the race off an impressive win two starts back over 1620m before going down narrowly last start over a mile at Caulfield. A winner of the Gr2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) and the Gr3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) at 3, Too Darn Discreet has proven herself a capable mare and from a pedigree aspect she could be anything and looks a likely chance here. The remaining trio have all been nominated for the Gr1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and kick off their campaign here on Saturday. A graduate of Mill Park Stud, the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young trained Thedoctoroflove (So You Think-Liberty Lover, by Rebel Raider) headed to New Zealand last time in, winning the G2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) before second in the Gr1 NZ Derby (2400m) – all in his first racing campaign. With a second first up when making his debut, it wasn’t until the gelding reached 2000m that we saw him win, and come Saturday, connections would be wanting to see him working home well. Both trained by the Emma-Lee & David Browne stable, Scary (Shocking-Never Ever, by Reliable Man) and Statuario (D’Argento-Miss Entice, by Dash for Cash) look capable of making their presence felt during the spring. Interestingly the pair are both Group 1 second placed in Derbies, Scary in the VRC Derby and Statuario on the South Australian. When looking at the future form out of the race, it's worth noting that two of the last three winners of the race in Soulcombe (Frankel) and Emissary (Kingman) went on to finish second in the Gr1 Melbourne Cup just four starts after their wins in the Heatherlie Stakes.