Australia: Sizzling takes on elders in Stradbroke Handicap

A week after winning his first stakes of 2013 in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas, Sizzling faces older horses in Saturday’s $1,292,000 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Australia.

A Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old, Sizzling is part of a field of 18 in the Group 1 Stradbroke, which is run over about seven furlongs. The Stradbroke field includes Epaulette, winner of the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 Stakes on May 25; and Your Song, who won the Group 1 BTC Cup at Eagle Farm on May 11. The field has eight millionaires.

Sizzling, a colt by Snitzel, won the Queensland Guineas for his first victory in four starts this year. He won the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes at Eagle Farm in 2012. For the Stradbroke, Sizzling drew the outside post.

The Stradbroke is one of three Group 1 races on Saturday’s Eagle Farm program that includes two $475,000 races – the J.J. Atkins Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds over a mile and the Queensland Derby for 3-year-olds over 1 1/2 miles.

Zoustar, unbeaten in three starts, headlines the Atkins Stakes. Zoustar, by Northern Meteor, won the Group 2 Sires Produce Stakes on May 25.

The Queensland Derby field includes Hawkspur, winner of two Group 3 races in May, and the filly Gondokoro, who won the Group 1 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm last Saturday.