Francaletta’s (High Chaparral) final campaign will include Group One options at home and away.
The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained mare is expected to resume in the Gr.2 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa on August 18 and then head to Hastings for the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) a fortnight later.
“We’ll have a crack at the Hawke’s Bay Group One and hopefully on to Australia,” owner Lib Petagna’s bloodstock manager Bruce Perry said.
“She could go to Sydney for the Epsom or to Melbourne for the Cantala Stakes.”
A half-sister by High Chaparral to the multiple European stakes winner Asset, Francaletta has a date at Waikato Stud later in the year.
“She’ll be going to Savabeel in the spring,” Perry said.
Francaletta has won six of her 11 starts, including the Gr.3 Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and she finished runner-up in the Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) at her next appearance.
She then headed to Sydney where she was a first-up third in the Gr.2 Guy Walter Stakes (1400m) at Randwick before an injury suffered when unplaced in the Gr.1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill ended her campaign.
The five-year-old was struck during the running, which resulted in a deep puncture wound in a leg.
Francaletta was purchased by Perry for $65,000 from Trelawney Stud's 2014 Inglis Easter draft when sold on behalf of Raffles Dancers. -NZ Racing Desk
