Ellis Explains Imperatriz Call

A desire to race left-handed and limit Imperatriz's travel this spring is behind the decision not to accept a slot in The Everest, Te Akau Racing's Principal David Ellis has revealed.

Speaking on Monday's After The Last on Racing.com, Ellis reiterated that the five-year-old will campaign exclusively in Melbourne this spring, with Friday's Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) her next target ahead of likely assignments in the Manikato Stakes (1200m) and VRC Champions Sprint (1200m).

He said connections are comfortable with the decision to prioritise G1 racing in Melbourne over a potential windfall in Sydney.

"It was an interesting decision, but we'd pretty much made up our mind a month or six weeks ago that we'd go for the Group 1 races," Ellis said.

"We've been offered some positions (in The Everest) by really good judges in Australia, but we've decided that we want to keep her in Melbourne to race this spring.

"We think she's slightly better left-handed than right-handed and she's already had a long trip over form New Zealand to Melbourne, so I don't think she needs another long trip up to Sydney.

"We love racing in Melbourne, our owners love it so with our base there, it was a pretty easy decision to make in the finish."