In-form Uzziah earns Festival Stakes shot

A decade after Estonian Princess was denied a Festival Stakes victory by the barest possible margin, trainer Scott Aspery is hoping his latest stable star Uzziah can go one better.

Estonian Princess was beaten a nose by I’m Imposing in the 2014 renewal before going on to run third in The Ingham (1600m), then known as the Villiers Stakes.

Aspery has similar aspirations for Uzziah through the Sydney summer as the gelding prepares for his latest black-type test in Saturday’s edition of the Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill.

“She was beaten a nose in that race then she came out and ran third in the Villiers, but we lost that on a stewards’ protest and got relegated to fourth,” Aspery said.

“I’d love to go one better, obviously.

“Any black-type victory is special but to make amends for getting beaten narrowly there ten years ago would be nice.”

A consistent country and provincial performer, Uzziah has responded to the addition of blinkers earlier this year and raised the bar, winning two of his three starts this campaign, both in Saturday city grade.

Aspery did toy with running him in The Hunter (1300m) at Newcastle two weeks ago but opted for a softer, benchmark assignment and he is hoping that patience pays off at Rosehill.

“It turned out it looked like it was the right rein to pull. He got the job done on that day which gave us the confidence to test him against these better horses,” he said.

“This race on Saturday looks a suitable race for him to take his step up to this grade and see whether he can be competitive.”

Aspery’s one reservation is the weather forecast for rain.

While Uzziah’s record suggests he handles rain-affected ground, his trainer feels he isn’t as adept in it.

“At this level, it is a concern. He gets through the wet, but he becomes quite one-paced on heavy conditions,” Aspery said.

“Ideally, I’d like a soft five at worse. If it’s in the soft range we’d probably still run, but if it was heavy, I don’t think I’d run him in this grade.”

With apprentice Molly Bourke committed to rival Felix Majestic, Jay Ford takes over the reins on Uzziah, who has drawn barrier 10 in the 18-horse field.