Last season's G1 Queen Elizabeth S. winner Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) finished second in a Gosford trial on Monday, and trainer Kris Lees told Racing.com he is mapping a plan to get the 6-year-old mare to the Oct. 22 G1 Cox Plate third-up.
“The key is having her at Moonee Valley third-up for Cox Plate day,” Lees told the site.
There are two potential routes for the dark bay, and Lees looks likely to choose the path that will see Lucia Valentina clash with champion mare Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) first-up in the G2 Warwick S. Aug. 20, followed by the G1 Underwood S. at Caulfield Sept. 24.
“We've got a couple of ways we could attack it, I think going in to the Warwick S. first-up is what is looking most likely at this stage,” Lees said. “We would have to run into Winx and for that reason we could run in the Show County [Aug. 20], which is at 1200 metres and she would get a lot of weight as it is a handicap. We haven't locked anything in but I'd imagine running in the Warwick S. is favourite.”
Campaigned by New Zealander Lib Petagna, Lucia Valentina was taking out her third Group 1 in the Queen Elizabeth, having won the G1 Vinery Stud S. and G1 Turnbull S. in 2014.
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