Beautifully- bred filly chasing first stakes win in Kembla Classic

Blueblood filly Call Di can put herself on a path to joining her famous parents in the Group 1 club when she lines up as a leading contender in Friday's $200,000 Group 3 Peroni Kembla Grange Classic (1600m).

CALL DI.
CALL DI. Picture: Steve Hart

The Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-trained filly has been bred for greatness as a daughter of English champion Frankel out of multiple Group 1-winning mare Samantha Miss.

Frankel left an indelible mark on racing with an astounding 14 wins from 14 starts in the Northern Hemisphere while Samantha Miss claimed a Group 1 Champagne Stakes, Flight Stakes and Victoria Oaks for Newcastle trainer Kris Lees.

Ryan has plans to put Call Di ($3.80 on TAB) on an Oaks path of her own but will make a decision if she heads to Sydney's Australian Oaks after the filly contests the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes.

He hopes to use the Kembla Grange Classic as a springboard to the top level.

Call Di is lining up for just her fifth start in the coveted fillies feature and returns to NSW after running third in the Group 2 Armanasco Stakes at Sandown Lakeside last start.

"There looks to be good speed in the race and the wide open spaces of Kembla should give her the chance to balance up and hit the line," Ryan said.

"She is probably better off lining up at Kembla than going to Rosehill. She has come back from Melbourne good and hasn't turned a hair.

"Whether it's a good idea to be racing here, going to Melbourne and then coming back here to race, I don't think the stats of that happening are not very strong."

Ryan and Alexiou have enlisted the services of leading apprentice Tyler Schiller to pilot Call Di in her latest stakes test.

Call Di has been battling for favouritism in the Classic with VRC Oaks runner-up Pavitra ($3.50 favourite) while Kiwi raider Polygon ($4.20) has been kept safe in betting.

Meanwhile, Kembla trainer Benjamin Smith will fly the flag for the locals with his lightly-raced talent Whisky Wisdom ($41) set to line up.

The daughter of Pride Of Dubai is having her fifth start this preparation and first in stakes grade after last running a fast finishing fourth in a Midway event at Rosehill on February 18.

"She is a progressive three-year-old filly," Smith said. "Her last two starts have been against the older horses.

"After she won her maiden pretty impressively, in the Midway she was against older seasoned horses but sometimes those three-year-old fillies, they just need to come back to their own grade and they improve another couple of lengths.

"She is only a little thing but she works like a horse that wants nine or 10 furlongs but it is whether we get to that level this time in."

Whisky Wisdom will be ridden by star apprentice Zac Lloyd.

The Classic card is supported by the running of the $85,000 AJ 'Bert' Lillye Memorial Benchmark 94 Handicap (1200m) where Godolphin's Bacchanalia is the $2.50 market elect.

The $50,000 Assett Kembla Grange Stayers Cup is headlined by the John Thompson-trained Auspicious Cloud ($2.70).

Racing on the feature eight-race card jumps from 1.15pm.


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