Third Time’s A Charm For Cummings Mare

A victory at Randwick on Saturday would give Strange Charm a hat-trick of wins but it would not rate as her biggest claim to fame.

Last autumn, Strange Charm broke her maiden on the Kensington track, scoring a comfortable win over Toffee Tongue and Entente.

Both placegetters emerged from that race to make their marks on the major carnivals.

Toffee Tongue was runner up in the Australian Oaks before claiming the Group One Schweppes Oaks in Adelaide and proved it was no fluke with a narrow second to star stablemate Verry Elleegant in the Turnbull Stakes during the Melbourne spring.

Entente also rose through the ranks, taking out the Group Three Carbine Club Stakes two starts later.

Trainer Anthony Cummings regarded Strange Charm highly enough to test her against Sydney’s best fillies in the Vinery Stud Stakes and Australian Oaks but she was unplaced in both.

“She’s had a couple of glitches along the way but she is back in form right now and she’s a nice mare,” Cummings said.

After resuming with a win at Kembla Grange, Strange Charm did not feature in three subsequent spring runs.

But since returning for the summer, the mare has recorded back-to-back wins over 1550 metres at Canterbury, racing on the speed both times.

Cummings had the option to take her to another race over the same course and distance on Friday night but instead opted for Saturday’s TAB Handicap over 1600 metres.

Nash Rawiller takes over from the suspended Regan Bayliss and Strange Charm is on the second line of betting at $8.50 in early TAB fixed odds markets.

“Her form speaks for itself at the minute,” Cummings said.

“She goes back into slightly higher grade but we had a choice of Friday night and I thought this looked an easier race, so we decided to go there.”

The Chris Waller-trained Zing has opened favourite at $4.20 and is a last-start winner over the Randwick mile.