I called in to see Secret Spirit at Wexford Stables this afternoon and as you can see from the photo below, she is in magnificent order a week out from the Group One 1000 Guineas at Riccarton Park.
Her condition is a credit to trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott and their dedicated team at Wexford.
This filly has been up all winter, winning the Listed Great Northern Foal Stakes as a maiden in May and following through with consecutive wins in the Ryder Stakes-LR in July and the O’Leary Stakes-LR and Bonecrusher Stakes-Gr.3 in September. Her most recent outing, the Listed Soliloquy Stakes saw her third in a race which developed into a sprint home off a very slow pace.
Secret Spirit (Swiss Ace ex Spirit of Sandford, by Kilimanjaro) goes into the 1000 Guineas as the highest-rated horse and will again have the services of the very much in-form Craig Grylls. She flies from Auckland to Christchurch early Thursday morning and usual strapper Umesh Raavi will be there to greet her off the plane.
Secret Spirit was bred by Nearco Stud Ltd who has two other likely runners in the 1000 Guineas, namely Strada Cavallo (Alamosa) and High Class (Shocking).
Secret Spirit at Wexford Stables this afternoon; she won two Listed Races as a juvenile and has so far added a Group Three and Listed Race this season. She spells after the 1000 Guineas.