Lara Antipova set to kick off Australian campaign

Mark Walker is looking forward to kicking off Lara Antipova’s Australian campaign on Saturday, while he is on weather watch in New Zealand with a couple of stakes contenders.

An unbeaten two-year-old in New Zealand last season, which included victory in the G1 Sistema Stakes, Lara Antipova has been given her chance to test her talent in Australia and has joined Te Akau’s Cranbourne barn.

Trainer Mark Walker has been pleased with the way she has been building into her spring preparation, but he holds concerns about her hefty impost of 59kg in her Australian debut at Caulfield on Saturday, the G3 Quezette Stakes.

“She seems bright and her last jump out was good,” Walker said. “I thought her jump out at Caulfield was just okay, but she has come on with fitness.

“We are happy with her, it is just that she has to carry that Group One penalty, it is quite a bit of weight.

“It is a very good edition of the Quezette, it is a very strong field. All you can do is win like she has, but she has still got to go to another level over here, especially with that weight.”

Walker said they have plenty of options with the Fortuna Syndicate-raced filly this spring and he will let her first few performances dictate what races she targets later this spring.

“We will go through to the Thousand Guineas Prelude, which is 1400m, and then we will decide if we go down a Thousand Guineas path or whether we keep her to sprinting. That will be third-up, and we will know what to do then.”