Preparations are intensifying for Sheza Alibi.
The highly-touted filly is concluding her Queensland campaign and is slated to return to the Pakenham stables managed by Peter Moody in conjunction with Katherine Coleman.
The daughter of Saxon Warrior made her way north shortly after a commanding victory in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile, and Moody indicated she has benefited from her spell leading into a potentially career-defining four-year-old season.
“She actually travels home from Queensland next week,” Moody disclosed from Flemington on Saturday.
“(It’s been) slowly, slowly. She’s done about seven weeks’ work up there and enjoyed it.
“There wasn’t a lot of developing to do, she just had to maintain her health and wellbeing and she’s done that.”
Sheza Alibi solidified her claim as Australia’s premier horse during the Sydney Autumn Carnival, with her dominant 4-1/4-length Doncaster Mile triumph following an earlier Group 1 win in the Randwick Guineas (1600m).
Following a brief rest, she underwent a month of pre-training before a three-week stint at Eagle Farm.
“Trot and canter for a month, just to put a base in them and the last three weeks she’s been in at Eagle Farm at our stable there,” Moody elaborated on Sheza Alibi’s current training regimen.
“She’s done three weeks at three-quarter pace and she’s ready to have a gallop now.”
Moody confirmed that the spring program for the Horse of the Year contender remains flexible, though initial plans are being formulated with a view to a first-up appearance in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 29.
“She probably has a jumpout at the end of the month, trials the first or second week of August somewhere there and the Memsie’s at the end of August,” he stated.
“That was the first possible (target) – I’m not saying that the one – but that’s the first option.”
The Memsie Stakes is scheduled to be run one week after the Group 1 Winx Stakes in Sydney, a race many racing enthusiasts would favour for her resumption, setting up a potential clash with fellow Horse of the Year contender Autumn Glow.
Sheza Alibi’s primary objective for the spring is the lucrative $10 million Golden Eagle (1600m), scheduled for October 31, a race over the same distance and course as her two Group 1 victories, where she is currently the firm favourite.
For the latest racing odds and markets, explore Australian betting sites.