Lofty intentions to be made clear as Alizee embarks on Everest mission

Rosehill: A campaign that could lead to one of the world’s richest races begins for the brilliant mare Alizee in Saturday’s G2 Missile Stakes at Rosehill. And it comes in a race for which trainer James Cummings has her primed.

Having aimed Alizee at races up to 1,600m in the autumn, Cummings flagged the possibility of restricting her to sprints while the mare was having a break, with The Everest an obvious target.

“We will be targeting the big sprints with her this spring with an obvious eye on The Everest, but we are reserving the opportunity to make a decision on that later in her preparation.”

For now, though, the focus is on Saturday’s race that shapes as a repeat of her first-up assignment last autumn when she won the G2 Expressway Stakes over the same course and distance.

“She’s come up really nicely this preparation and with a couple of nice public hit-outs at the trials she will be ready to go this weekend first-up in the Missile,” Cummings said.

“She’s a horse that was able to win the Expressway so nicely first-up last preparation, so we expect her to put in a strong showing this Saturday at a track and distance she has a good record.”

“She’s a brilliant six-furlong filly and goes particularly well fresh and her work this week has impressed the whole team.”

On Saturday’ she faces only four opponents, including Le Romain who she relegated to second in last season’s Expressway.

Alizee ranks not only as one of Godolphin’s best Australian performers with eights wins and almost $2.3 million in racetrack earnings to her credit, but also as one of this country’s more classically-bred mares.

A daughter of Sepoy, she is from the Exceed And Excel mare Essauoira, who is also the mother of young Darley stallion Astern and of the good three year-old Tassort.

At a time of year when the better horses return to the track, Cummings is looking to Athiri to confirm herself among them when she runs in the Listed Rosebud over the Rosehill 1,100m at which she was successful on debut in December.

“She’s had two public trials in the lead-up including an impressive trial at Randwick last week where she showed a great turn of foot over the last few furlongs,” Cummings said.

“She will get a better track this weekend at Rosehill and it will be a really good place for her to kick off.”