Pride Of Jenni and her jockey Declan Bates completed a gallop together at Caulfield, shedding kilos in advance of contesting the All-Star Mile as a team.
Tuesday morning saw Ciaron Maher take a limited but talented batch of horses to Caulfield for galloping, with Pride Of Jenni set for her season opener in the Group 1 All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington scheduled for March 7.
After missing rides since the December 6 barrier accident at Ballarat jump-outs, Bates sat on the mare for the drill, aiming to rebuild stamina for a possible Friday meeting at Terang.
That mishap resulted in the Irish jockey fracturing his pelvis and sacrum, an incident he labeled ‘a nasty one’.
“It’s a frustrating injury because you can’t give it any relief,” Bates said.
“Sitting down you’re putting pressure on it and even lying in bed you’re putting pressure on it.
“That’s why in the first month you don’t feel like you’re healing at all, so I was a little bit worried with the injury at first, but once it started coming good, in the last month especially, there has been rapid improvement and luckily, I’ll be back ahead of schedule.”
Having been riding trackwork for a bit more than seven days, Bates managed ‘eight or nine’ horses at the Cranbourne jump-outs held on Monday.
He voiced his enthusiasm for returning to the races and refining his condition before taking the mount on Pride Of Jenni in the All-Star Mile.
“My fitness needs to tighten up a bit, but that’s going to come as I go along,” Bates said.
“I was keen to get back racing two weeks before the All-Star Mile and that way it gives me a good two weeks of race riding before then.
“Like me, she’s got a bit of fitness to come on, but she feels her usual self, enthusiastic in her work, and that’s what I wanted to see.
“It’s good to have a nice horse to look forward to. You always want to get back as quick as possible and when you have a nice horse it really helps the motivation to get back as strong and healthy as possible.”
Bates boasts a record of 19 rides on Pride Of Jenni from her 43 career starts, with four Group 1 conquests, notably the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick. Check the betting markets for the race as the All-Star Mile approaches.
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