By Adrian Sciglitano
Co-trainer Adrian Bott expects “classy” two-year old filly The Playwright ($3.50 on TAB) to be hard to beat as she aims to give Tulloch Lodge back-to-back wins in the Group 3-Widden Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
A year ago Lady Of Camelot announced her arrival with an all-the-way win in the Widden and two starts later claimed the Golden Slipper.
The Playwright, who has only had three starts in her short career to date, tackled the Magic Millions two-year-old Classic last start in a race where Bott, who co-trains with Gai Waterhouse, says she might have felt the pinch late being four weeks between runs but has pleased the stable since.
“Yeah she has [pleased between runs]; it was a good run in the Magic Millions and she had been up there [Queensland] for a while,” Bott said.
“The way the races got dragged out that extra week meant she was four weeks between runs and whether she felt that in the race or not, she was one that was disadvantaged with that additional week between races.
“I still thought she ran well and she gets the addition of the blinkers this time around coming back slightly in trip off her last two runs at 1200m.
"That’s the main reason for that [blinkers] and she has got the experience and is a pretty classy filly.”
The Playwright will jump from barrier three in the field of nine and Bott is confident the filly can be adaptable in the run if she was required to.
“Yes easy enough [can take a sit], she is a horse that has sat outside the speed and travelled pretty comfortably and we have seen her come off the speed in one of her trials so she is pretty adaptable in that sense,” Bott added.
Adrian Bott's thoughts on other runners including Soul Choice (Race 6-$12): “She has just taken a while to find her feet and hit that mark which she showed last start she is capable of. She is going the right way and can hopefully get a result Saturday.”
Shangri La Express (Race 7-$18): “No doubt he needs to improve, his last couple of runs have probably been a little bit below par. I thought he had excuses in the three-year-old race, he was never really in the race. He was off the track and covered a bit of ground so it was a bit of a non-event for him the Magic Millions. He looks well in himself and can hopefully show improvement.”
View final fields with full form & race replays for Rosehill Gardens here