Edmonds confident Extragalactic is primed for Moir Stakes

The journey for Group 1 honours for Extragalactic begins this Saturday in the $750,000 Moir Stakes at Sandown.

Trainer Trent Edmonds, based in Pakenham, is set to unveil the four-year-old mare for the first time since her narrow defeat by a nose to Desert Lightning in The Goodwood, a 1000-metre weight-for-age contest.

The Goodwood result was a significant blow for Edmonds, but it has only intensified his ambition for the Deep Field filly to achieve her maiden top-flight win.

Edmonds firmly believes Extragalactic has made considerable progress between racing preparations.

"I think she's going better and I couldn't have her any better for a first-up effort – she's really on song and she's right in the spot," he commented.

"I'm really confident that I've got the right horse going there and she's in the right space.

"She's filling me with confidence, she's really well and I can't have any better."

This Moir Stakes will represent just the eighth start for Extragalactic, who has accumulated three victories and three second placings thus far.

She is aiming to provide Edmonds with his first solo Black Type success since concluding his training partnership with his father Toby, with whom he celebrated a Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap victory with Tyzone in 2020.

The Queensland-based trainer established his Pakenham stable midway through the 2023/24 racing season, around the time he secured Extragalactic for $160,000 at the Magic Millions' Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

She was the sole yearling acquisition for Edmonds at the 2024 edition of the prestigious sale.

The second offspring of the mare Alliterate, by Deep Field, Extragalactic's immediate family history lacks significant Black Type, though notable names appear further down her pedigree.

Her fourth dam, What Price Glory, shares a half-sibling relationship with Steam Heat, who is the granddam of both The Everest champion Yes Yes Yes and the dual Group 1 winner In Her Time (Black Caviar Lightning and The Galaxy).

These established bloodlines, combined with her physical conformation, made Extragalactic a highly desirable prospect for Edmonds.

"She just looked sharp," he revealed regarding his initial impression.

"She wasn't overly big, but she was a good athlete that had a really good, long, fluent walk and great hind quarter.

"I thought, 'alright, you're obviously a pretty good sort and you're well put-together, even though you're not overly big, so I'll have a crack'."

Extragalactic, foaled in August 2022, is part of the final progeny group by sire Deep Field.

Deep Field completed his final breeding season at Newgate Farm in the year Extragalactic was conceived, producing a limited seven live foals, of which only five have been named.

"They're really good, versatile, tough stock and, basically, that was one of the reasons I wanted to buy her," Edmonds stated.

"I liked the sire, I knew that he wasn't serving anymore, or that her crop was going to be one of his last full teams, and she was in my price range."

It was not Edmonds' initial strategy to commence Extragalactic's campaign in the Moir Stakes, but she enters the race without a preparatory run after her withdrawal from the Group 3 Carlyon Stakes (1000m) on August 22 due to the Heavy track conditions.

The decision was not due to concerns about her handling a wet track, which is a possibility for this weekend's race, but rather to avoid a heavy surface for her lead-up assignment.

"I scratched her from the Carlyon purely because I didn't want to rip the guts out of her first-up at 1000, knowing that my first big target for the preparation was in two weeks' time," Edmonds elaborated.

"I wasn't running away from the Heavy, I was trying to protect her and have her cherry ripe this week rather than trying to patch her back up after a Heavy track run."

Extragalactic has recorded second placings in both her starts on Soft tracks; one of these was The Goodwood, which was run on a Soft 6. Deep Field is recognised as a sire of proficient wet-track performers, evidenced by a 34.2 percent winners-to-runners ratio and a 16 percent winning strike-rate on Heavy tracks.

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