Matt Laurie missed Flemington on Saturday with Bella Verona but a Queensland cameo is still on the cards for the emerging filly.
Bella Verona turned heads with a stunning debut win at Cranbourne in April before unlucky runs at Caulfield and Sandown in recent weeks and Laurie was considering another run at Flemington.
It would have been a chance to flaunt her credentials for the G3 Winx Guineas on the Sunshine Coast next month but the filly has experienced a minor hoof issue, forcing Laurie to tweak her training regime.
A trip to the sunshine state, where Laurie’s wife Kate is overseeing a team of horses including G1 star Treasurethe Moment and Saturday’s G1 Oaks runner Grand Omaha [who finished 7th], is still on the cards.
“She’s had a little bit of inside heel pain in her off fore but it’s nothing sinister,” Laurie said.
“She hasn’t really missed much work but we wanted to do a little bit of fast work with her over the weekend and we’ve just held off.
“We’re just going to poke along with her.
“Kate is there (Sunshine Coast) with a few horses, including Treasure (Treasurethe Moment) who has started her pre-training.
“Whether we take her up there, give her a trial and try to scrape into the race, that’s what’s in the back of my mind.
“Otherwise we can still take her there, we pull the pin (on her campaign) and she can spell in the sun.”
Laurie rarely places the weight of expectation on his young horses but he is happy to talk openly about the high benchmark he’s already set for Bella Verona.
After missing the first half of her three-year-old season, the trainer is optimistic she can continue to mature as a four-year-old.
“I think she’s a pretty good horse,” he said.
“She’s probably as good as Grand Omaha, if not better to be fair to her but she’s just that preparation behind.
“She’s a filly we’ve got a decent opinion of.”
