Ciaron Maher can hardly contain his enthusiasm for what 2024 might hold for his dual Group One winner Pride Of Jenni (Pride of Dubai) after showing no ill effects from her potential grueling spring carnival.
Maher said it was normal for horses to lose weight for some days after such a tough seven days where she won the Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) and the Gr.1 Champions Mile (1600m) when employing breathtaking front-running tactics.
But he said it was nearly the opposite case for the Trelawney Stud-bred Pride Of Jenni.
“She went out and thrived,” Maher said on Monday. “Normally if they’ve had a tough campaign, and it’s affected them, they lose weight for another 10 days or two weeks.
“She’s put on about 45 kilos in three weeks back in the stable and looks amazing.”
“She came through those runs during Cup week in super order.
“It takes a long time for a horse with that racing style to season. If you look at her form in the past, she’d have one of those big runs in her in a prep and then taper off.
“At the Valley (Stocks Stakes) she ran, and then came to Caulfield for the Toorak and then probably dropped off a bit again, because they broke a record at The Valley.
“But she’s a stronger, well-established mare now.”
“If you look at mares like Verry Elleegant, it takes a long time for those mares who can do a bit wrong to race well.
“Verry Elleegant used to do a bit wrong, she used to over race and stuff like that. Pride of Jenni used to do a lot of things wrong, charging and too keen, both in trackwork and in races and trials.
“If you look at both those races during Cup week, Declan (Bates) rode her with a beautiful long rein. She’s going quick but she’s relaxed. You can’t go that quick and not travel tractably or else there’s no way you will finish off.”
“Tony (Ottobre, her owner) has always had a lot of faith in the mare, as you would I suppose. But when she won the first one (the Empire Rose), I said to Declan ‘what do you think (about backing up)?’ and he said, ‘probably not’ and I was thinking the same.”
“And then I said to Tony, ‘oh well, we’ll see’ and Tony said, ‘well it’s up to you’. Then I rang him back and I said, ‘I can’t fault her, I think we should roll the dice’ and there wasn’t a heap of acceptances.”
Despite her incredible record at 1600 metres, Maher said it was not inconceivable that Pride Of Jenni may also excel over further.
“He (Ottobre) was very keen on the Cox Plate this year, but it was never going to work out for her, she just needed a bit of time early in the preparation to come on,” Maher said.
“We planned for it from the outset, but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t going to work.”
Maher said a race like the G1 Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in February might be a good starting point for the mare that could have a date with the All-Star Mile (1600m) and possible the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in Sydney as possible autumn targets.
