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By Ray Hickson

Will she or won’t she?

Trainer James Cummings has left the door open for classy filly Zardozi to wait until the Australian Oaks and miss Saturday’s Group 1 $2m Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick - but he also hasn’t ruled out tackling both races.

Trainer James Cummings (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Zardozi would be backing up into the Derby after her solid third behind Orchestral, the $1.70 favourite for the Oaks, in the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) last weekend.

“There is always the option to run in the Australian Oaks next week,” Cummings said.

“She might run in that race as well, or she might run in that race and miss this weekend.

“If she runs this weekend she will run very, very, well.”

The last filly to win the Australian Derby was Shamrocker in 2011, though not many fillies contest the race, and there’s only been four winners in the last 70 years.

Cummings said her run at Rosehill was more than acceptable, though she wasn’t able to match it with Orchestral in a race that changed complexion quickly when Tutta La Vita dashed to the front before the 600m.

But that tough run could be to her advantage with the seven day back up.

“When that little extra pressure went on at the 700m in the Vinery (Stud Stakes), just that lack of staying match practice seemed to take its toll in the last 125m,’’ he said.

“On a seven-day backup we are looking at a fitter horse, a filly who is just a bit harder than she was the week before, on a track where she’s a far more settled animal than she seemed at her two runs at Rosehill.

“At Randwick she can stroll around like she did at Flemington three times in the spring and parade well and be relaxed.

“She was strolling around the gallops here this morning feeling a million dollars. All we can see is improvement to come from that filly.”

The VRC Oaks winner was $3.60 second favourite with TAB on Thursday, with VRC Derby winner Riff Rocket the early favourite.

Godolphin is also represented by Tom Kitten, who is a heavy track winner of the Fernhill Stakes last autumn, and Cummings is hopeful he can regain the form that saw him win the Spring Champion Stakes by almost four lengths.

He hasn’t managed a placing since that win in four runs back though he was beaten under a length in the Randwick Guineas and 1.5 lengths in the Rosehill Guineas.

“If you would have told me this year he would have had four unplaced runs, I wouldn’t have believed you,’’ Cummings said.

“Somehow, along the way, things have just haven’t gone his way. He looks amazing, the more work I throw at him the more he thrives.

Zardozi runs third in the Vinery Stud Stakes

“It looks a Derby with strong pace, so it could set up quite a lot like what it was like in the Spring Champion Stakes.

“Adam Hyeronimus is back in the saddle and he knows how to get the best our of this horse.

“We know the Tom Kitten we saw in the Rosehill Guineas can’t win the Derby, but the Tom Kitten we are expecting to see is going to be a better horse than that.”

All the fields, form and replays for Day 1 of The Star Championships at Randwick