Following her defeat in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes, Pride Of Jenni bounced back with an all-the-way victory at Moonee Valley to claim the Group 2 Feehan Stakes.
The race that was billed as a match race between Ciaron Maher’s mare and Mr Brightside from the Ben, Will & JD Hayes stable, and in the end there wasn’t much of a contest.
With only four horses in the field, Declan Bates was always going to lead on his star mare, and within 400m, it was easy to see that Bates wasn’t hanging around and waiting for anyone as Pride Of Jenni shot out to a four-length lead.
By the time the daughter of Pride Of Duba hit the halfway point, she found herself over 10 lengths in front of her main rival.
Mr Brightside, Antino and Attrition started to take ground of the eventual winner; however, they gave themselves too much of a task and Pride Of Jenni recorded a gritty 1.5-length victory.
2024 Feehan Stakes replay – Pride Of Jenni
Ciaron Maher was clearly emotional in his post-race interview.
“Unbelievable,” Maher exclaimed.
“Just can’t thank the team enough. Sammy, Jack, Adrian, just everyone that’s strapped her to it tonight because Sammy got injured, but fantastic.
“Tony and Lynn and the whole family and team.
“To have her back, that’s what racing’s all about, nights like this.
“Really good racing and a brilliant job by Dec. He understands her so well and the atmosphere tonight is electric.
“I thought she was pretty close to right and thankfully she’s right back.
“I thought she was home a fair way out, but got a little bit scared last time.
“She’s just very special. Everything she does is special.
“She’s the ultimate professional. She’s just great to deal with and I love her.”
Declan Bates echoed similar thoughts to Maher as he spoke post-race.
“I sat on her Monday morning and I’ve been looking forward to tonight ever since because I knew she had just come on from that last run and she was just on it,” Bates said.
“She was ready for a, she was really ready for a Moonee Valley race where she could just roll along and skip away. I was pretty positive on her, too.
“A lot of times I do like to just take it easy on her through that first 200, but I really just let her stride from the word go today and probably got a little breather, about 2000, and then from the 800, I asked a lot of her today, but I knew around here on this ground that’s how we, you know,were up against the champion in Brightside and had to do what I had to do to beat him.
“And look, I’ve just got an absolute champion of a horse here.”
Pride Of Jenni has moved into equal favouritism with Fangirl at $3 with horse racing bookmakers in the King Charles III futures markets.
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