Bella Nipotina unlikely to contest Carlyon Stakes

Bella Nipotina is unlikely to be given the chance at back-to-back wins in the Listed Carlyon Stakes with the stable looking at a Sydney option with the mare.

As a Group 1 winner, the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable expects the mare to get too much weight in the 1000m race which will be run under set-weight and penalties.

Bella Nipotina won the Carlyon Stakes with 57kg last year and two starts later was successful in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.

Eustace said the stable was considering delaying the start of Bella Nipotina’s campaign for a week to run her first-up in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on September 2.

He said there was also the option of running first-up in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes (1000m) at Moonee Valley on September 9.

“She will be entered but she’ll have a lot of weight in the Carlyon Stakes,” Eustace said.

“So, we’ll probably save her for the Concorde Stakes, but there is also the chance we could save her for the McEwen Stakes as well.”

Eustace said Bella Nipotina was progressing well for her return run having not raced since finishing sixth to Ruthless Dame in the Group 1 Sangster Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville in May.

“Her trials have been great, her times have been good, so I don’t see why she cannot have another good campaign,” Eustace said.

Maher and Eustace are expected to rely on Generation in the Carlyon Stakes.

Generation will be first-up in Saturday’s 1000m dash and has not been seen since finishing fifth behind Curran in The Discovery (1200m) at Geelong in April.

The entire has not been successful since winning the Group 3 Manfred Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield in February 2022.

But Eustace said Generation had been working and trialling well in preparation for his return.

“We’ve been really happy with him. His trials have been nice and sharp, so we would expect him to run well,” Eustace said.