Hit and Run Sydney Raid for Bavella

The Cambridge Stud colours of Brendan and Jo Lindsay will be in full force on Saturday in Sydney through top-class mare Probabeel (Zabeel) in the Gr1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m), while Bavella (Snitzel) who also runs in their colours is herself making a hit-and-run raid across the Tasman with the 98-rater set to contest the Gr2 Sapphire Stakes (1200m). A Listed winner and multiple Group 3-placed, Bavella is prepared by Lance Noble, who trains a small team of horses from the Lindsays' private training establishment at Karaka. Tim Clark will ride the 4YO mare, who finished runner-up to the Jamie Richards-trained Entriviere (Tavistock) at Ellerslie last start and will clash again with that rival in the fillies and mares set weights and penalties contest. "She hasn't had a tough season this season so we're trying to get some Australian black-type for her," Noble said of the well-bred daughter of Snitzel (Redoute's Choice). Bavella's runner-up finish in the Gr3 King's Plate (1200m) is her only run to date this campaign, with Noble using an Ellerslie trial last week, in which the mare finished third, in readiness for the Sydney mission." Noble conceded, "It's never easy going to Australia but on her best form and running against fillies and mares only, I think she's well worth taking. It's a nice fit for her and I think she deserves a crack at it…"

Bavella gets her first shot in Sydney on Saturday (pic: Kenton Wright)