Bright, shiny, dappled, and if you were able to list golden as a colour of a horse’s coat, Abounding looked just that when paraded at Robert Heathcote’s stable before the Stradbroke Handicap.
That race, though, was not to be the one as the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm on Saturday for fillies and mares presents the chance for the five-year-old to go one better than her second placing in 2025.
“She’s always been a good type and she’s healthy and she’s happy,” Heathcote said.
“She’s eaten well and she’s working well. We’d aimed for this even when I took her down to Sydney in March, we just wanted to put a fitness run into her and to freshen her up for the carnival.”
Abounding finished 14th in Queensland’s signature race won by Spicy Martini over 1400m on June 13, but only six lengths from the winner and there were excuses on the heavy surface.
“The Stradbroke was a speed bump on an unsuitable track for her but I think she ran ok.
“She’s done well and we haven’t done much with her since that run as that would have topped her off fitness wise.
“I just hope we get a track that is not too wet. I think it is a mistake that a lot of people make with Eagle Farm track in that when it gets wet it shouldn’t be graded soft five or six, or heavy eight or nine.
“It should be the amount of shiftiness because it gets so shifty. Either a horse can handle that or they can’t.
“If we get a Good 4 for or a Soft 5, I think she can go one better than last year.”
In winning the BRC Sprint on May 23, Abounding became the first mare to do so since Red Tracer in 2010.
With Tim Clark riding that day, the pair will reunite for the Tiara where Abounding is rated a $7 chance in all-in markets.
“Tim knows his stuff and they just get the job done, those top Sydney boys,” Heathcote added.
She’s Got Pizzazz was the $4 race favourite prior to the release of nominations on Monday but will not take her place there on Saturday.
The Grahame Begg-trained Splash Back holds current favouritism at $4.40.
