Ciaron Maher said he saw nothing in Pride Of Jenni’s Randwick run and post-race recovery on Saturday to suggest she will not take her place in the highly select A$5 million Cox Plate this week.
Such news will bring a major sigh of relief for those at the Moonee Valley Racing Club as currently, it appears Saturday’s race will feature just six runners and no horse will have a bigger bearing on the shape of the race than the hugely popular on-pace runner.
Maher said on Sunday morning that he’d long had a plan to get the Trelawney Stud bred mare back to The Valley for the Cox Plate (2040m) from the Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Randwick and he said the early signs were encouraging after she beat all but the emerging Ceolwulf in the race.
“I’ll assess her tomorrow and the next day, but I monitored her quite closely yesterday and post-race,” Maher explained.
“She had fluid straight after the race and she’s now in a nice paddock this morning at Bong Bong (at Maher’s property south of Sydney), so she’s got every opportunity to get there.
“I certainly didn’t see anything yesterday that would deter us from racing in seven days.
“I was very pleased with her effort. She ran super but was just beaten by a better horse on the day.”
At this stage, the Cox Plate field will contain the two visiting imports Prognosis and Docklands as well as the four locals in Pride Of Jenni, Broadsiding, Via Sistina and Mr Brightside.
The Cox Plate field looks unlikely to get beyond those six runners, although there is some consideration from connections of the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Gr.1 placegetter Royal Patronage to pay-up for the race by Tuesday morning’s deadline.
There is a provision for a late entry for an older horse of $200,000 by noon on Monday and $100,000 for a three-year-old, but at this stage it appears unlikely there will be any new players on the scene.