Ciaron Maher eyes a bold move into the Newmarket Handicap after Jimmysstar’s electric Cranbourne hit-out.
He will touch base with the sprinter’s connections before locking in for the Group 1 1200m event at Flemington Saturday.
Maher’s stable plotted the gelding’s reappearance in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes (1200m) Caulfield March 21, onward to Group 1 T J Smith Stakes (1200m) Randwick April 4 and Group 1 All-Aged Stakes (1400m) subsequently.
Tuesday saw Mark Zahra at Cranbourne trialling Jimmysstar amid Ethan Brown’s suspension lasting to month-end.
Zahra, retained for Saturday’s feature on Tenytris, switches to Jimmysstar if aiming for William Reid Stakes immediately.
Newmarket Handicap nominations finalise Wednesday morning.
“Mark’s coming back from his ‘fake broken leg’, but he was pretty keen to get down here this morning and he worked super,” Maher joked.
“I will have a chat to the owners, and it will be either this race or the William Reid, but I think Jimmy is coming up really well.
“We only gave him a short time off and we wanted to keep him active.
“The planning has been to only have one run here and then go to Sydney for the T J and the All-Aged, but I’ll have a chat to the owners after today’s work.”
Stable shelves Jimmysstar for Saturday, Benedetta represents Maher post her creditable third in Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) Flemington February 14.
Benedetta gets 4kg allowance against Tentyris, Lightning winner, avenging her 1-½ length reverse.
Third crack at Newmarket for Benedetta after fourth, tenth finishes with Jason Warren.
Maher praised Benedetta’s top first-up showing among four stable efforts.
“Last prep, whether we were working out, or she didn’t come up as well, she’s certainly come up better and certainly her coat, and her action, is a pretty good reflection of that,” Maher said.
“She was super the other day. She ran close to a PB. I thought she looked fantastic and I think she’s held that through to this race.
“We haven’t had to do a lot with her. She was very fit and right to go and couldn’t have hit the line any better.
“The 1200 (metres) is going to be ideal. I think she will hit the line pretty hard.
“It’s going to be a slick race, but I think she’s come on again.”
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