Racing
Lingani aims for first at Caulfield
Trainer Peter Blanch and his family will learn more about Lingani after she races for the first time in Melbourne at Caulfield.
Adelaide visitor Lingani will be aiming for a pair of firsts when she lines up in a Stakes race at Caulfield.
The four-year-old will be aiming to provide Peter and Belinda Blanch with their maiden Melbourne success when she runs in the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) on Saturday.
Lingani will also be shooting to become the first Stakes winner in Melbourne having scored her maiden success on Kangaroo Island.
Empress Waltz won her maiden at Kangaroo Island when trained at that course by David Huxtable before winning a mares' race down the straight at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day in 2002.
Peter Blanch has a long record of taking young horses to Kangaroo Island while Lingani won her maiden at that track by 6.3 lengths.
"I like taking young horses there that are still not there mentally," Blanch said.
"We have two or three days over there. It's a good experience for them, and I've done it with a lot of horses that have come back and won city races.
"She didn't get under anyone's guard over there either.
"I did have a big stable's racing manager from Ballarat ring on the Sunday morning after she won just to inquire whether she might be for sale.
"So, someone was watching her."
Lingani is the current stable star of the Blanch 10 to 12 horses they have stabled in their backyard in Morphettville.
A winner of the Listed Lightning Stakes at Morphettville last July, Blanch was planning a raid on the Festival of Racing last autumn, only to be halted due to a hamstring injury.
"She trialled up and was ready to race in January but just tweaked a hamstring in a jump-out, so we decided to give her some time off," Blanch said.
"Sometimes a negative can be a positive because she has come back bigger and stronger.
"We were going to have a look at Melbourne, like we are this weekend, just to see where we've lobbed, so instead she's up and going and we head over tomorrow morning.
"One of best mates is David Miles, a harness racing trainer. He's based just north of the airport, so it's a pretty easy to get to, and then we'll drive into Caulfield on Saturday."
Blanch has had placings in Melbourne previously and will only make the trip when he has a horse he thinks can measure up.
Saturday's outing will be Lingani's second in 10 months having resumed with a fourth-place finish over 1000m at Morphettville Parks on June 28.
Former Adelaide-based jockey Paul Gatt takes the ride on Saturday.
"It's an expensive trip to come, but it's worthwhile if you think you've got the right horse," he said.
"When we've got the right horse, we like to go, but a win has eluded us so far. We've had a few seconds, so fingers crossed.
"She can't be any better. She came through the run well the other day as she needed it.
"We rode her conservatively from the barrier, just to make sure she hit the line, and she did that.
"She had a good blow afterwards, but since then she's come on, her coat has come on, so it's time to have a look.
"The question is 'where do we sit?', so we'll know more after Saturday."
Check out the latest South African News