Racing
Skybird chases Moir win first-up
Skybird is set to chase a second Group 1 win first-up when she lines up at Moonee Valley.
After a long and steady build-up, trainer Mitchell Freedman is looking forward to the return of his Group 1 winning sprinter Skybird.
Off the scene since winning the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington in February courtesy of a pectoral muscle injury, Skybird returns in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
A lot of work has gone into getting Skybird fit and ready to race again with a gallop between races at Sandown, a trial on the Caulfield Heath and a jump-out at Horsham.
The jump-out at Horsham last week was the first time Freedman asked the mare to show him something, which she delivered, and after a visit to The Valley on Tuesday for a gallop the trainer declared she was ready to go.
"We're rapt to get her back," Freedman said.
"It's been a big effort by the whole team to get her back to where she is now. She had a lot of physio work, a lot of work with the vets, there was a bit of shoeing stuff as well to tackle.
"We see it so often with horses, one issue relates to another and then another, we had to tidy up a few things and we had to work really hard to get that right.
"We took her away to Horsham last week for a jump-out and she was a bit 'round' going there, but the improvement she made out of that has been good.
"It's the first time that we made her do a bit of work and she was really solid in that work, and she's really tightened up since then."
Freedman will keep Skybird to a sprinting campaign after winning over 1600m as a three-year-old and contesting The Golden Eagle during her four-year-old season.
"They put up these prize money races, and you are entitled to go with the rating she had and the record she had," Freedman said.
"We went there, and she probably peaked on her run a little bit.
"She can run a bit further in a softly run race, but when you get up in grade, you don't see too many of those softly run races."
After a long lay-off, Freedman will wait and see how Skybird performs before committing to anything later in the spring.
The Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at The Valley on September 26 is in the trainer's mind while he is hopeful of a call up to run in the Group 1 The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 18, although there has been minimal interest yet from slot holders.
Freedman was a little surprised by the large numbers for Saturday's sprint in which Skybird has drawn barrier five in the 15-horse field plus one emergency.
"Usually, you come to the Moir and see a field of eight or 10, but I guess with the anticipation mounting for an Everest slot, a lot of horses are wanting to take their chance," Freedman said.
"That's what we did in the Lightning, and we got away with the reward and hopefully we can run well again on Saturday.
"We had that pec injury coming out of the Lightning, so the most important thing is we want her to go out there and race really well, pull up well and then we'll make plans for the rest of the spring."
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