Tony McEvoy has been aiming his best three-year-olds at Derby day all spring and believes his juvenile stars Sunlight and Oohood are ready to shine.
Add to the mix Victoria Derby hope Farooq, Bring Me Roses and Temple Of Bel – the latter two joining Oohood in the Empire Rose Stakes – and McEvoy has a big day in front of him.
In the spotlight: Tony McEvoy thinks Sunlight will beat the boys in the Coolmore Stud Stakes on Saturday.Credit:AAP
“This is a good horses' day and when you have fillies like Sunlight and Oohood it is what you target,” McEvoy said. “To get them there in good condition and ready to run great races if what you want.
“With the colt [Farooq], he has just stepped up every time we have have lifted him in trip and I thought it was very strong staying effort at Geelong [when runner-up to Home Ground in the Classic].
“He has a bit of quality around him as well. Sometimes in the Derby a strong stayer wins and he is a stayer.”
However, McEvoy's best hopes are established stars in Sunlight and Oohood. He hopes to put the frustration and disappointment of last Friday's Manikato Stakes with Sunlight behind him. She never got a crack at them and finished midfield as favourite.
The Zoustar filly, which won the Magic Millions Classic, came through the run well and she will take on the boys down the straight in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
“She is bucking her brands off and I had no hesitation in backing her up,” McEvoy said. “It was like she didn’t go round. Well, she never really found top gear because of where she was in the Manikato and had a lot more to give.”
Sunlight had won the Quezette Stakes and Thoroughbred Club Stakes against the fillies before the Manikato and this will be the first time she has met the colts since running third in the Golden Slipper.
She is on the third line of betting behind Written By and Zousain and McEvoy warned punters not to underestimate Sunlight.
“She was up with the best colts as a two-year-old and I think it will be same on Saturday,” McEvoy said. “There will have to be a good one there to beat her if she gets a clear run.”
Oohood, which was the Golden Slipper runner-up, steps out against the older mares in the Empire Rose.
Her record may only boast the one win but it came in the Flight Stakes over the famous Randwick mile in September. McEvoy has always held a high opinion of her as a miler and her program has set for this day.
“She is a group 1 winning filly that will only have to carry 50kg over her best trip and Flemington will really suit her,” McEvoy said. “She ran into an outstanding colt [in The Autumn Sun] in the Caulfield Guineas. I think she should have ran second rather than third to him if she didn’t get so far back.
"It has been a plan to get here and she has performed well in both the group 1s she has run in this spring and I can't see it being any different on Saturday.
“Fillies have a good record in the race and they have won the past two [I Am Star and Shoals] and I think she is the equal of both of them."
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