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By Ray Hickson

Three times has classy Godolphin mare Colette seen a heavy track and three times she’s come out on top so it’s no surprise trainer James Cummings can feel confident about claiming a fourth Group 1 with her at Randwick on Saturday.

It’s been almost 18 months since the five-year-old last raced on a heavy track and she downed Icebath in trying conditions in the Golden Eagle of 2020 while her previous two victories also came in that calendar year in the Group 1 ATC Oaks and Group 3 Adrian Knox.

Two of her three subsequent wins have been in soft 7 conditions.

Given her wet track prowess, Colette produced one of the runs of the race first-up on a good track in the Apollo Stakes two weeks ago and that gives Cummings heart ahead of the $600,000 TAB Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m).

“She won the lead-up (Apollo Stakes) 12 months ago and she was flying then, and she beat all bar Think It Over (this year) who was exceptional in his return,” Cummings said.

“I think there’s no doubt Colette is going very well and we like the way she’s built a platform for the remainder of her campaign.”

“She’s nicely fit and, while not absolutely at her peak, I think she’s definitely fit enough to run a nice race on an expected wet track on Saturday.”

In the 2022 Apollo, Colette clocked the third fastest last 200m (11.87) and a solid final 600m of 34.53 (Punter’s Intelligence) as she ran into second place behind Think It Over.

Colette runs second at Randwick on February 12

It’s shaping as an interesting showdown between Colette and Verry Elleegant, who finished almost two lengths behind her first-up in the Apollo.

A year ago Verry Elleegant ran second behind Colette in the Apollo but turned the tables in the Chipping Norton and had her measure each time they met for the rest of the year. TAB had the Horse Of The Year at $2.90 on Friday while the Godolphin mare was $3.60.

Cummings expects promising youngster Sandpaper will cope well with a heavy track in the Group 2 $200,000 Elite Sand & Soil Skyline Stakes (1200m).

The Snitzel colt won well on debut at 1250m then had to drop in distance when a close second to Mumbai Jewel in the Pierro Plate (1100m) two weeks ago.

“I think he’ll be all right on a wet track, it’s certainly going to take the sharpness out of the race,” he said.

“The testing nature of the track might play to his strength, but he certainly needs to go to another level to be capable of mixing it with the best two-year-olds around.”

In a wide market, Sandpaper was $8.50 with TAB on Friday and Cummings believes he’s a horse with plenty of upside.

“He’s got plenty of depth about him that horse, even though we don’t quite think we’ve seen the best of him,” he said.

In the Group 2 $200,000 Furphy Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m), Godolphin has Magic Carpet and Troach engaged and their chances soared with the Friday scratching of early favourite Coolangatta.

The former was only beaten 2.2 lengths by Mumbai Jewel and Sandpaper first-up and struck some trouble in the run while the latter impressed with an all the way win at Kensington on a soft 6 earlier in the month.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting