Moody-Coleman pair on trial for Queensland trip in Mornington Guineas

The Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman stable will be looking to add to their good run of success when they saddle a pair of runners in the Mornington Guineas.

The 1600m race on Saturday could also be a stepping stone towards a trip to Queensland for Gates and Tacumwah.

Moody said the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m) at Morphettville on May 4 had been on the radar for Gates until he put in a shocker in the Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes (2040m) at Moonee Valley on March 23.

The program has since been reset for Gates with a view of hopefully getting to the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm on June 1.

Moody said the run of Gates can best be forgotten in the Alister Clark, describing the gelding as ‘no Pride Of Jenni’.

“They went mad in front. He came from an outside gate, and we elected to go forward,” he said.

“He was five wide out of the straight and he ended up going on with it.

“Our maps told us he would have led the Cox Plate field by 12 lengths. He would have done a Pride Of Jenni, which he isn’t,

“We were rushing him to try and get to Adelaide, so we’ve decided on take two, freshen up, come back to the mile and maybe head to Queensland.”

The Group 2 Doomben Roses (2000m) on May 25 and the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) on June 8 could be on the agenda for Tacumwah who is resuming from a spell on Saturday.

Tacumwah has only raced three times, winning on debut in maiden grade at Ballarat last October.

Moody said Tacumwah was a nice staying filly in the making, adding she was likely to need the outing on Saturday.

“She’s a filly that we hope might progress towards Queensland for the three-year-old filly’s races like the Roses and the Oaks,” Moody said.

“We’ll probably give her two here and then look to send her up.”