Owner Tony Ottobre will give Declan Bates a licence to again play ‘catch me if you can’ on Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) when she backs up in Saturday’s Gr.1 Champions Mile (1600m) at Flemington.
The daughter of Pride of Dubai landed a breakthrough Group One win in the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), holding on for a one-length win after setting up a mid-race lead of more than six lengths.
Ottobre said his discussions with Bates and trainer Ciaron Maher and David Eustace will be about employing similar tactics against weight-for-age stars Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars), Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) and Fangirl (Sebring) in the $3 million race.
While he admits the Champion Mile shapes as a much stiffer challenge, he’s happy to back in his tenacious mare.
“She’ll be raced in the same way and we’ll just see what happens,” Ottobre said.
“I’m sure it’ll keep everyone on their toes to see how the race is going to pan out.
“It’s what she’s been doing for quite some time; they let her go a little bit on Saturday and there wasn’t a horse like Amelia’s Jewel chasing her like she was at The Valley.
“When a horse gets in front of her, she tries to climb over the top of them and doesn’t really like it.
“It’s good for racing I think, it just gives a different type of race pattern that gets people excited.
“I’d love to be able to beat those horses, but they are current-day champions we are up against.
“We won a mares’ race. There’s a big difference between the two, hence her odds should be about 20-1, I feel.”
There were emotional scenes after Pride of Jenni’s Empire Rose win, which gave Ottobre and his wife Lynn the second Group One win of their racing journey.
Every win by a ‘Jenni’ horse revives memories of their daughter Jennifer, the inspiration for the naming of all of Ottobre’s gallopers, who died in 2015 after battling a brain tumour.
Saturday’s race falls on the eve of the eighth anniversary of Jennifer’s death and while there will again be tears if the mare can salute, Ottobre said Pride of Jenni has already delivered his family its fairytale moment.
“We’re really proud of her,” he said.
“I’m not sure Saturday will be as emotional as last week because that was her breakthrough and now she’s achieved what we wanted her to achieve.
“Her grand final was the Empire Rose. It’s the one she was being set for and she won it.
“For me, the Empire Rose is the premier mares’ mile race in Australia and there have been a lot of good horses that have won it.”
While he still dreams of more Group One wins with the six-year-old, Pride of Jenni will eventually retire to Ottobre’s Cape Schanck Stud and its fledgling breeding program.
Earlier this spring, his first Group One winner Princess Jenni (NZ) (High Chaparral) delivered her maiden foal, a colt by Snitzel.
Ottobre normally sells his colts and retains fillies to race, but said he already has a soft spot for the month-old Snitzel colt.
“I’ve been asked a few times and I’ve always said 70 (horses on the books), but that’s when I stopped counting so I don’t really know to be honest,” he said.
“It could be a little higher.
“We’ve got about a dozen broodmares at the moment, and we tend to sell the colts out of the mares and keep the females.
“It’s very rare for me to hold one back but at the moment. I think I’m going to hold onto this Snitzel colt.”