The outlook for Saturday’s Group 2 Hollindale Stakes altered on Monday following Pride Of Jenni’s official entry into the $500,000 Group 2 prize.

This mare, popular with fans, appears in the 20 nominations for the Gold Coast race, which lists the last two Melbourne Cup winners Knight’s Choice and Half Yours.

For Pride Of Jenni, the 1800-metre test represents her first outing since placing fifth in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf (1600m) at Randwick April 11, as owner Tony Ottobre revealed her recovery prompted the decision with trainer Ciaron Maher to venture to Queensland.

“It was never the plan, we were always going to give her the three runs in the autumn, which were some very high-level races,” Ottobre told SENTrack.

“She came out of those three runs a treat so we thought it’d probably be wise just to keep her ticking over while she was semi-spelling at Bong Bong Farm, which is in New South Wales, and the news coming back to me was that she was pretty keen and happy to keep going.

“It would have been remiss of us not to take her to Queensland and let the Queensland public have a look at this fantastic, beautiful animal that’s won Horse of the Year go around and hopefully do her thing where she can get out to a margin and stretch them and make it all exciting.”

Subject to a performance in line with hopes this weekend, the mare targets the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) on May 23 next.

She has raced in Queensland just once before, taking 10th in last year’s Doomben Cup.

Coming into her Queen Of The Turf fifth was a tight second to Light Infantry Man in the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m), off a third on resumption in the Group 1 All-Star Mile (1600m).

Confirmation saw Pride Of Jenni pair with She’s A Hustler at $5 for second in Hollindale Stakes markets, behind Half Yours at $2.25.

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