Chris Waller will be looking for a vote of confidence from Damian Lane for his own belief to grow ahead of Saturday’s $5m Gr.1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m).
Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed), a nine-time Group One winner, produced one of her most disappointing performances at the highest level when finishing fourth beaten 3.5 lengths by Incentivise (Shamus Award) in the Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m).
Aside from last year’s Melbourne Cup (3200m), when closing creditably from a rearward position for seventh, Verry Elleegant had never finished over three lengths from the winner at Group One level inside the past 22 months.
“Good horses don’t really fail, she did on that occasion, she’s much better than that,” Waller told RSN’s Correct Weight.
“That’s why I’ve gone looking for other issues and whilst it’s small percentages it does make a difference.”
The small details that Waller noticed in Verry Elleegant post-Turnbull was the mare experienced “a flat week”.
“There was nothing significant, her bloods were only fair but not bad, and they certainly weren’t perfect,” Waller said.
“Soundness wise she is great and appetite wise she is better now, she wasn’t eating as much as I would have liked after the race and now she is eating as much as she was going into the Caulfield Cup last year.”
When quizzed whether Verry Elleegant raced too close to a fast tempo in the Turnbull Stakes, Waller said: “I don’t over-analyse things, I just concentrate on the horse.”
“I know they ran very quick and she might have been a little out of her comfort zone through Damian (Lane) riding her perfectly, but was it perfect for the tempo of the race? I don’t know.”
Verry Elleegant worked in company alongside stablemate Djukon (Jukebox Jury) at The Valley on Saturday morning. They clocked their final 1000 metres in 1:10.66 and completed their final 400 metres in 24.93 seconds.
Last season’s Australian Racehorse of the Year is due to have her final significant piece of work ahead of the Cox Plate under Lane on Tuesday morning.
“I’m pretty confident that she will bounce back but I would like to see her work really well on Tuesday morning without flattening her,” Lane said.
“If I could get a thumbs up from Damian Lane on Tuesday morning I would go into the race with a bit more confidence. “I want her to go into the race (Cox Plate) with heaps of confidence and I’ll let you know how the confidence levels are on Thursday or Friday I guess.”
