Maher brimming with Pride as Jenni stars at Caulfield

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Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) stamped herself one of the finest front-runners seen in Australia in modern times by streaking away to leave Mr Brightside (Bullbars) in her wake in Saturday’s $3.75 million All–Star Mile (1600m) at Caulfield.

She may now have the chance to try to emulate one of the best-known leaders of all time – Vo Rogue (Ivor Prince) – in seeking a third elite-level win in the Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) at Flemington on March 30.

It was on this raceday last year that the Ciaron Maher-trained mare announced herself in the big time, surprising many with a narrow second behind Espiona (Extreme Choice) at $31 in the Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m).

Eight months later she showed she was no flash-in-the-pan when – under bold pace-setting tactics from jockey Declan Bates – she won the Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) on VRC Derby Day and, a week later, followed up that win with a victory in the Cantala Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), winning by around a length each time.

Yesterday, this breathtaking recent revelation did it again in even more ballistic style. Seeking to avenge her first-up second when collared late by Mr Brightside in the C.F. Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), Pride Of Jenni was speared to the front out wide from gate six by Bates, set a ferocious speed in the lead, and galloped to the turn in a fearsome style.

From the 1400 metres to the 400-metre mark, she set free-wheeling sectionals of 11.08 seconds, 11.19, 11.23, 11.22 and 11.85.

By the home bend, she had simply run her 11 rivals ragged.

Buffalo River (Noble Mission), who usually leads but had no hope of that yesterday, was two lengths behind her in second at that point, and beaten. Mr Brightside, settled third-last by Craig Williams from barrier 11, found himself ten lengths behind.

Driven out under the whip, Pride Of Jenni was still three lengths clear at the 100 metres as Mr Brightside reached second and Cascadian (New Approach) ground past the tiring Buffalo River.

While her furlong times inevitably faded, Pride Of Jenni was still two lengths clear on the line, notching her sixth career win from 27 starts, and lifting her earnings past $5 million. 

“She’s very, very special. You don’t get horses who can do that,” said Maher

“It’s just stamina, isn’t it? Most horses have a 600 metre sprint, but she seems like she can do it for half a mile, or 1000 metres. Unbelievable.

“Declan understands her. You’ve got to have the confidence to ride her like that. There was a bit of conjecture today about speed in the race. I said, ‘Don’t worry about that. You know the horse, trust in yourself and the horse – just ride the race’. And he said ‘I just want to be smooth’. He never rides her badly.”

While she might not quite set the gaping leads established by the unforgettable Vo Rogue, Maher said Pride Of Jenni may now have her chance of emulating his two Australian Cup victories of 1989 and 1990. Maher said the six-year-old would have no trouble stepping up to 2000 metres for the race, like yesterday’s held under weight-for-age conditions.

Her only previous attempt past 1600 metres came when a well-beaten eighth in the JRA Plate (Gr 3, 2000m) at Randwick last April, her only attempt on heavy going other than winning a five-horse Mornington maiden in 2020.

“There are options in Sydney, and there’s the Australian Cup,” Maher said. “We were half contemplating a Cox Plate last year. She’ll be hard to beat in whatever she goes in.”

Bates said he’d been confident yesterday that Pride Of Jenni, backed from $4.20 to $3.80 second elect, could upset Mr Brightside, rated by many as the finest horse in the country, who eased to start a $2 favourite.

Asked if he could believe the win, Bates said: “I can believe it, because we have so much faith in her.

“This prep, every time I’ve sat on her back I’ve felt like she’s improved since last spring. I didn’t want to say that out loud because of what she did last spring, but I think it’s actually the case.

“The way she can just sustain a gallop, it’s very rare a horse can do that.

“I feel that on her, my main job is that first 400 metres. She jumped nice and cleanly and that way, she’s straight into that nice rhythm. And even though I had a few kicking up on my inside, I knew I could take my time, stay a bit wide early,” he told Racing.com.

“Once I got to the front and was doing it in a nice manner, she kind of does the rest. Once you turn down the side, she wants to go. From that point you’re almost a passenger. It’s just a matter of pointing her in the right direction.

“We had a part of the track I wanted to be on, just had to put her there and she did the rest.”

If she heads to the $3 million Australian Cup, Pride Of Jenni will likely have a rematch with Mr Brightside, whose jockey maintained had turned in a “huge” run yesterday.

“It’s a shame, but don’t take anything away from the winner, she was very good and very dominant,” Williams said.

“My horse, he was huge. We didn’t have the best barrier draw and under those circumstances, you see how far he stood them up and for him to only be beaten the margin he was beaten in the end, he went super.

“If the plan is to go to the Australian Cup, I’m looking forward to him at ten furlongs, that’s for sure.”

Bookmakers last night had Mr Brightside at $3.50 for the Flemington feature, with Pride Of Jenni at $4.50.

Pride Of Jenni was bought for just $100,000 by owner Tony Ottobre’s Cape Schanck Stud from the Segenhoe Stud draft at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale of 2019.

Bred by New Zealand’s Trelawney Stud, she’s the first foal of four-time winning New Zealand dam Sancerre (O’Reilly), a daughter of Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m) winner Vouvray (Zabeel).

Pride Of Jenni has also become the runaway all-time star for Ottobre. The former apprentice jockey and Lindsay Park trackwork rider has built a large team of some 80 horses, with his racing stock named for his daughter Jennifer, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Sancerre has a yearling filly by Per Incanto (Street Cry) and is in foal to Cambridge Stud stallion Hello Youmzain (Kodiac).

Pride Of Jenni is one of four top-tier winners for Coolmore’s sire Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), with yesterday’s $2 million windfall set to move him to a career-high fifth on the Australian general sires’ table.

Cummings eyes more Group 1 glory with Zardozi

Zardozi proved she was a star on the rise and served notice of another imminent Group 1 for her star British-based sire, Kingman (Invincible Spirit), with a stunning victory in Saturday’s Phar Lap Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m) at Rosehill.

She also whetted appetites for a likely clash with star New Zealand filly Orchestral (Savabeel) in the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) back at Rosehill on March 30. 

The Godolphin homebred was a star of the Flemington spring, taking the Edward Manifold Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m), running a narrow second in the Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m), before romping home with the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) as a $2.70 favourite.

After a first-up 11th in Randwick’s Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on March 2, Saturday’s event was also expected to be less than an ideal distance en route to longer targets, hence she was sent out an easing $13 chance.

But, ridden by British rider Tom Marquand, Zardozi was allowed to drift back to second last on settling, before unwinding a paralysing burst in the home straight, flying up on the inside of tiring favourite Les Vampires (Pierro) to hit the lead at the 200-metre mark, and powering home to win by 1.9 lengths.

Second home was another filly in Makarena (Snitzel), while Kintyre (Hallowed Crown) was the first male home in third.

Kingman has swept all before him in the northern hemisphere, with eight Group 1 winners, and has 72 individual stakes victors among 425 winners from 626 runners in Britain.

From southern-times matings he has two top-level winners in Australia in Zardozi and J.J. Atkins Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) hero King Colorado.

Zardozi’s imperious performance yesterday suggested she’d be extremely hard to beat when she strives to bring his third Australian Group 1 win in the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill on March 30.

At the least, an epic battle looms there with Orchestral (Savabeel), who made it four straight wins in the New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) on March 2. Bookmakers last night had the Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained Orchestral at $2.25, with Zardozi second-favourite at $5.

“She is a class act,” trainer James Cummings said of Zardozi. “You’ve got to be prepared to forgive her for her first-up effort, there was a lot that went against her. And yet she pulled up from the run well, she has trained on sweetly since then so we stuck to our guns.

“The Phar Lap is a perfect race for her as a stepping stone to the Vinery, and now she gets back to 2000 in a couple of weeks, she is going to look spot-on.”

Cummings was already eagerly anticipating a clash with Orchestral.

“That will be interesting. She is a good filly Orchestral,” Cummings said.

“(But) you can’t have a short memory, you’ve only got to open up the replays from October and see what [Zardozi] was doing in the spring.

“It was a big effort in the Wakeful to run second, a sweet effort in the Manifold before that, but the win in the Group 1 VRC Oaks was pretty special. That was the win of a filly that had top-class Group 1 ability, and that’s the way this filly is headed.

“She has been a big price at her two runs back and [Godolphin form expert] Dominic Beirne had her odds-on in this race today.

“Hopefully those that have stuck with her are rewarded and she is the type of filly that is going to reward Godolphin in preparations ahead.”

Marquand was full of praise for Zardozi – and for Cummings and his assistant Darren Beadman.

“I won’t take any credit for that one. That was James and Darren’s masterplan, and all I did was jump out of the stalls and execute what they were saying they thought would work,” he said.

“She’s proven she’s a very good filly before. She didn’t need to step up on what she’s been doing in the past to do that.

“She had her return run the other week and things didn’t go to plan. We got knocked wide and she obviously needed that reappearance run and things to go her way and that masterplan was the difference today, with her being able to get down the inside and then explode through.”

Zardozi is the first foal of unraced mare Chanderi (Dubawi), a 1,300,000gns buy for Godolphin from the Highclere Stud draft at Book 1 of the 2017 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

Chanderi is a daughter of Silk Sari (Dalakhani), who won Doncaster’s Park Hill Stakes (G2, 1m 6.5f) by five lengths and ran second in the British Champion Fillies and Mares Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 4f) at Ascot.

Silk Sari’s half-sister Dreamlike (Oasis Dream) is the dam of last year’s Hollywood Derby (Gr 1, 9f) winner Program Trading (Lope De Vega) and his Australia-based older half-brother, Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young’s Caulfield winner He’s Our Bonneval (Siyouni).

Chanderi has an unraced two-year-old Lonhro (Octagonal) colt named Adinath, a yearling colt by Exceed And Excel (Danehill) named Texture, and was covered by Darley’s first season sire Anamoe (Street Boss) last spring.