Australia: Soul Choice starts over for Fipke in Warwick Farm handicap

Soul Choice, a three-time winner who races for prominent North American owner Charles Fipke, will have her first start since April in a one-mile handicap for fillies and mares at Warwick Farm Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday evening.

Judging from Soul Choice’s campaign earlier this year, the Warwick Farm race is a prep for stakes in coming months.

Trained by Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse, Soul Choice has won three of eight starts and is a slight favorite in early betting in a field of eight. In February, Soul Choice won the minor Tasmanian Oaks at odds of 1-2 at 1 5/16 miles at Launceston Racecourse.

Soul Choice, who was bred in Australia, was later eighth and ninth as an outsider in Group 1 races for Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old fillies. Soul Choice, who won at a mile earlier in her career, is by Redoute’s Choice and is out of Thislilsoulofmine, who was third in the 2010 Ontario Damsel Stakes at Woodbine for Fipke.

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Soul Choice starts in the first race on an eight-race program at Warwick Farm that begins at 11:25 p.m. Eastern or 8:25 p.m. Pacific.

Soul Choice should be a narrow favorite over Blackcomb, Chase My Crown, Kahawaty, and Peshmerga.

Blackcomb has won two of her last three starts since mid-July in handicaps at a mile and 1 1/16 miles and faces a tougher class of runners at Warwick Farm.

The intriguing Chase My Crown was fourth by slightly more than 1 1/4 lengths in a handicap at seven furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on Sept. 9, closing from well off the pace to be closest to the front at the finish.

Kahawaty, who also runs from off the pace, was third by 2 1/4 lengths in a one-mile handicap at Warwick Farm on Aug. 30, her highest placing in six starts since December.

Peshmerga, who was bred in Germany, is winless in three starts in Australia. A minor stakes winner in Germany in 2022, she is capable of setting the pace.

This is Peshmerga’s first start since she finished sixth by four lengths in a one-mile handicap at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney in June.

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