Glamour mare Well Written has done nothing but please trainer Stephen Marsh since her arrival in Sydney for a two-start high-stakes campaign.
The unbeaten four-year-old travelled without incident and quickly settled into her new surroundings ahead of a crack at Saturday’s A$1.5 million Gr.1 TAB Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick.
All going well, she will be back in action there in the A$10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) on October 31.
“She left the Cambridge stable about 4pm on Tuesday and flew over and got here just after 10pm,” Marsh said.
“She walked off the float here like she had just come from home to the Cambridge synthetic, she’s unbelievable and didn’t have a sweat mark on her.”
Well Written is no stranger to travel and Marsh was confident her latest trip wasn’t going to be anything but smooth.
“She was born over here and flew to New Zealand as a weanling and flew to Riccarton for the 1000 Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m), so she’s been on enough planes,” he said.
Well Written and Marsh are enjoying the hospitality of trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, who have last-start Gr.3 Cameron Handicap (1500m) winner Fully Lit in the Epsom line-up.
“They have given us a beautiful stable here and she’s just so settled,” he said.
“We took her for a canter this morning, she doesn’t need to do any fast work, she’s very well and is ready for Saturday.”
Well Written will be ridden by Zac Lloyd and from barrier three is expected to get every chance to extend her winning sequence to eight.
“She’s got the good gate and hopefully, there’s no rain. It’s a blue sky today and going to be very hot, but there could be the odd thunderstorm on Saturday but we’re only worrying about what we can control,” Marsh said.
Meanwhile, Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) placegetter Media World will drop back to sprinting following his unplaced run in the Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Hastings.
“He’s a colt and we wanted to give him a crack at another Group One, but he didn’t get the trip,” Marsh said.
“He’ll be freshened and go to the Spring Sprint (Gr.3, 1400m) on the last day at Hastings.”
El Vencedor also dropped out of contention for the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) after he tailed the field home in the Howden.
“He’ll run next in an open mile at Ellerslie as a lead into the Balmerino Stakes (Gr.3, 2000m),” Marsh said.
On the domestic front on Saturday, he expected Hidden Achievement to be among his top chances at Matamata where he will contest the Ancroft Developments Handicap (1200m).
Like Well Written and Media World, he will carry the colours of Yulong and will be making his New Zealand debut after breaking his maiden for Chris Waller and finished runner-up in the Gr.1 JJ Atkins (1600m).