Champion trainer Ciaron Maher said he is confident Pride Of Jenni’s much-anticipated spring campaign has not been derailed by a minor elevated temperature.
Pride Of Jenni has emerged from her unplaced Gr.1 Memsie Stakes run with an imperfect blood picture, but Maher said that while her tests indicate a possible minor virus of some kind, her symptoms were mild and she appears to be bright just a few days after the race.
“Her bloods have come back not perfect, but OK,” Maher said on Tuesday afternoon.
“They (bloods) were very slightly out, but it would be hard to say it was the sole reason (for her defeat).
“It probably wasn’t surprising that she got beat, but probably just the margin was further than I expected.”
Asked if he feared the minor setback could harm her spring campaign, Maher was adamant: “No, not at all. It’s very minor.
“It’s obviously a concern that I expected her to be very competitive and she wasn’t. But all other signs and everything else about her seem OK.”
Maher would not be drawn on when Pride Of Jenni will step out next, but the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at The Valley on September 27 is most likely at this stage.
He said Pride Of Jenni will have a more leisurely week ahead.
“The process now is recovery,” he said. “A bit of ‘R and R ‘for a week and she’s got a program there,” he said.
“We’ll be monitoring her closely over the week, but the signs are good. She seems bright enough and ate up and looks healthy.”
Pride Of Jenni eased out to $2.90 by race time on Saturday and futures punters have now also taken a set against her.
On the back of her flat Memsie run, Pride Of Jenni was a big drifter in the two big spring races she had been earmarked for. She is out from $3 to $6 for the Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Randwick and from $4.40 to $8.50 in the Cox Plate.
