Banana Queen looking for fruitful start

The versatility of So You Think’s stock can be a mini conundrum for trainers when trying to figure out their best distance.

The remarkable stallion has produced a Sydney Cup winner in Knights Order, a middle-distance star in Think It Over and most recently a Group 1-winning sprinter in Think About It.

It is no surprise Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou initially had his daughter, Banana Queen, pegged as a mile to middle-distance horse, only to reassess that assumption after her autumn campaign.

While she has won over 1600m in benchmark grade, Alexiou doesn’t believe it is her pet trip and he’s keen to restrict her to shorter journeys this preparation, as they did with another of So You Think’s progeny in Group performer Peltzer.

“We’ve had a bit of luck with the So You Thinks over the last four or five years and the ones we’ve had a bit of joy with have been in that 1400, 1600 metre bracket, not horses that get over a trip,” Alexiou said.

“At the end of last preparation, she struggled a little bit in stakes company over the mile, so we’ll probably look to keep her to 1400 metres this time in.

“She’s more a sharper 1300, 1400-metre style of So You Think, a bit like Peltzer.”

In that vein, Alexiou is expecting a competitive return from Banana Queen when she resumes over 1300m at Randwick on Saturday.

A first-up winner over a similar trip last campaign, albeit in lesser grade, Alexiou says she is forward enough to give the race a shake.

“We expect her to run really well. She has only had the one trial, but she’s done plenty of work at home,” he said.

“She’s not a mare that takes a stack of work, even though she is quite big, she’s naturally athletic.

“We’ll try to get her rating up a bit and maybe look at something like a Golden Pendant.”

Stablemate Conscript will be out to bounce back in the Kanebridge Handicap (1100m) after over-racing when unplaced in the June Stakes.

He will have to lump 61.5kg but if Nash Rawiller can find cover trailing the speed, Alexiou says the gelding is capable of replicating his win over the same course and distance two starts ago.

“He’s got to carry a bit of weight but he’s a very tough, genuine horse and a few of these more lightly raced horses coming through, they’re still to prove themselves in this grade,” Alexiou said.

Recent recruit Smashing Eagle rounds out the team in the Godolphin Lifetime Care Handicap (1100m) and will be ridden quietly to allow him to unleash his sharp finishing burst.

“When you can leave him alone he’s got a good turn of foot and he can reel off sizzling sectionals,” Alexiou said.

“They all need a little bit of luck but they’re all horses going really well.”