Extragalactic’s pursuit of Group 1 success commences this Saturday in the $750,000 Moir Stakes at Sandown.
Trainer Trent Edmonds from Pakenham will present the four-year-old mare for her first run since a narrow second to Desert Lightning in The Goodwood over 1000 metres at weight-for-age.
The Goodwood result was a significant disappointment for Edmonds, but it has only fuelled his determination for the Deep Field filly to achieve a top-level victory.
Edmonds is confident Extragalactic has improved during her break.
“I think she’s going better and I couldn’t have her any better for a first-up effort – she’s really on song and she’s right in the spot,” he stated.
“I’m really confident that I’ve got the right horse going there and she’s in the right space.
“She’s filling me with confidence, she’s really well and I can’t have any better.”
The Moir Stakes will mark only Extragalactic’s eighth career start, boasting three wins and three placings from her previous outings.
She is aiming to secure Edmonds’ first Black Type win since parting ways with his father Toby, a partnership that yielded the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap with Tyzone in 2020.
The Queenslander relocated to Pakenham mid-2023/24 season, coinciding with his acquisition of Extragalactic for $160,000 at the Magic Millions’ Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
She was the sole yearling purchased by Edmonds at the 2024 iteration of the renowned sale.
As the second foal from the Al Maher mare Alliterate, Extragalactic’s immediate lineage may not feature extensive Black Type, but prominent names emerge further back in her pedigree.
Her fourth dam, What Price Glory, is a half-sister to Steam Heat, the granddam of both The Everest winner Yes Yes Yes and the Black Caviar Lightning and The Galaxy victor In Her Time.
These bloodlines, coupled with her physical attributes, made Extragalactic an essential acquisition for Edmonds.
“She just looked sharp,” he recalled of his initial assessment.
“She wasn’t overly big, but she was a good athlete that had a really good, long, fluent walk and great hind quarter.
“I thought, ‘alright, you’re obviously a pretty good sort and you’re well put-together, even though you’re not overly big, so I’ll have a crack’.”
Extragalactic, foaled in August 2022, represents one of the final progeny from Deep Field.
He stood for one last season at Newgate Farm in the year Extragalactic was born, siring only seven live foals, with five subsequently being named.
“They’re really good, versatile, tough stock and, basically, that was one of the reasons I wanted to buy her,” Edmonds remarked.
“I liked the sire, I knew that he wasn’t serving anymore, or that her crop was going to be one of his last full teams, and she was in my price range.”
While not initially planning to debut Extragalactic in the Moir Stakes, she enters the race without a prior run after being withdrawn from the Group 3 Carlyon Stakes (1000m) on August 22 due to a Heavy track condition.
This decision was not based on an inability to handle a wet track, which she might encounter this weekend, but rather a desire to avoid a heavy track for her lead-up race.
“I scratched her from the Carlyon purely because I didn’t want to rip the guts out of her first-up at 1000, knowing that my first big target for the preparation was in two weeks’ time,” Edmonds explained.
“I wasn’t running away from the Heavy, I was trying to protect her and have her cherry ripe this week rather than trying to patch her back up after a Heavy track run.”
Extragalactic has recorded second placings in both her starts on Soft tracks, including The Goodwood which was contested on a Soft 6. Deep Field is recognised as a sire of successful wet-track performers, boasting a 34.2 percent winners-to-runners ratio and a 16 percent winning strike-rate on Heavy tracks.
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