Co-trainer Ken Kelso says his 4-year-old is back in that sort of form and he is adamant the wide open spaces of Flemington and it being left-handed will suit her better than when she was surprisingly beaten in the NZ Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellerslie three weeks ago.
“I think she is slightly better left-handed because she can run up the track a bit right-handed and I think the bigger track here suits her too,” Kelso told the Herald.
“She is very well. Mick Dee [jockey] came in and trotted and cantered her this morning [Friday] and he said she is spot on.
“He also likes barrier two for her and he knows more about the opposition than I do. I will leave the tactics up to him.”
The race looks set to be run at a true speed as Pride Of Jenni loves to roll along at even sectionals but the question is whether she will be quite as energetic at the end of 2000m as she was winning the All Star Mile last start.
Mr Brightside is of course more proven at 2000m, having only been nudged out on the line by Romantic Warrior in the Cox Plate, so he is the one to beat, while Atishu loves Flemington and could be potent sitting off the speed in a similar situation to Legarto.
So the quartet give New Zealand a whopping chance of claiming the winner in some capacity, which Orchestral will aim to do in the Vinery quarter of an hour earlier.
The NZ Derby winner is a little bit special, maybe a lot special, and if she brings her best New Zealand form to Sydney only VRC Oaks winner Zardozi would seem a danger.
Tellingly James McDonald, who has ridden both fillies in their richest wins, has chosen to stick with Orchestral and while Randwick for the Oaks in two weeks may suit her better than Rosehill, it will take a good filly or bad luck to beat her today.
While all of those pin-up girls (and Mr Brightside) will chase Group 1 glory today one mare who won’t be at Ellerslie for the $400,000 NZ Breeders Stakes is La Crique.
“She just had a niggly hoof issue so we have had to scratch her,” says co-trainer Simon Alexander.
“She should come right quickly and we can maybe look at Queensland [May-June] with her but it is unfortunate timing.”
The Breeders has an open feel to it with Pearl Of Alsace the new favourite and she and Belclare ($9 to $5.50) have winning form on the new Ellerslie StrathAyr surface.
The race has enough depth though with Mustang Valley (who would prefer rain), Town Cryer and Grail Seeker that the Group 1 credentials so important for future broodmare value should be hard-earned.
The 1600m event should be run at a slick tempo but it could still be a hard race to make ground in so Pearl Of Alsace and Belclare still make the most punting sense.
Today’s racing
• Ellerslie, first race 12.25pm
• Riverton, first race 12.05pm
• Flemington, first race 2.15pm
• Rosehill, first race 2.30pm
• Addington harness, first race 1.52pm
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
