Princess Jenni romps in at Geelong

Princess Jenni (NZ) announced herself as a potential group quality horse with an effortless six-length in a 1400m maiden at Geelong on Thursday.

Trained by David Brideoake and ridden by Luke Nolen, Princess Jenni was having just her second start and swept past her rivals down the straight to record an impressive victory.

Tony Ottobre paid $120,000 for the filly at the 2017 Karaka Yearling Sales and paid tribute to her breeders Murray and Marg Hardy, for developing such a level-headed filly.

"She was owned by a lovely couple, Murray and Marg Hardy, who have a boutique stud farm over there. They look after their horses really well. They've presented me with a fantastic horse," he told Racing.com.

"Being a High Chaparral, they tend to get a bit hot-blooded and the calmness and attitude they showed towards her as a yearling, means they have produced a calmer High Chaparral rather than a feisty one."

Jockey Luke Nolen sees considerable upside in the filly but said she would also need to be treated with patience.

"She's still a raw product. As she as she gained ascendency, she had a look around and took a bit of encouragement. She’ll take nice improvement from it," he said.

"It will probably be next campaign I'd say, she's just that little bit immature. But she's laid a nice foundation for what hopefully will be a very successful career."

Princess Jenni is out of the Zabeel (NZ) mare Glitzabeel (NZ), who is a half-sister to Lara's Glitter as well as Singapore Gold Cup winner Bahana, from the family of Beauty Watch and Precious Glitter.

Derby trip no issue

Trainer John Sargent is confident G3 Geelong Classic winner Home Ground (High Chaparral {IRE}) knows the G1 VRC Derby trip won’t trouble his colt.

“The trip won't be a worry, he will get the distance and a lot of them won't,” he said.

“If there are any chinks in the favourite's armours, if they can't see the distance out, he'll just keep whacking away.

“It's always good having that on your side as a three-year-old over 2500 metres.”

Home Ground won the G3 Geelong Classic at his last appearance and he has thrived since.

“He's gone on with it since his win at Geelong so he will be right at his peak,” Sargent said. “But he will have to be because it is a lot stronger field.

“The plus is we have got Hugh Bowman on. The minus is that we've got a wide draw, but I couldn't be happier with him and that's the main thing.”

He said the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Derby favourite Thinkin' Big (High Chaparral {IRE}) and Godolphin's Aramayo (Poet’s Voice {GB}) as the horses who stand out.

“Especially Gai's colt,” he said. “He's a lovely type of horse and has a bit of quality. He would be the one to beat.”

Trainer plotting Slipper double

Gary Portelli is already plotting for a unique family double.

He won the Golden Slipper S., with She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) and has the world’s richest 2-year-old race in mind for her half-brother Time To Reign (Time For War), who runs in Saturday’s Lack Group H., at Rosehill.

“At this point he's definitely my Golden Slipper horse,” Portelli said.

“If he can win on Saturday it will certainly help us with the programme next preparation. He'll go out win, lose or draw on Monday morning.”

The pair are out of Courgette (Charge Forward), but Portelli said the similarities end there.

“They look completely different on type,” he said.

“This fellow has more of a Snitzel look about him. He's big, light bay, a good-sized horse and he's got a lot of growing left to do.

“She was short, squatty, short-coupled, heavy muscled. She looked more like an 800 metre horse or quarter horse when she was young.

"They're two different horses, I wouldn't even think they were related.”

Colt’s jump-out lifts spirits

A trial run at Flemington has boosted the confidence of the connections of Long Leaf (Fastnet Rock) ahead of Saturday’s G1 Coolmore Stud S.

Co-trainer Ben Hayes was thrilled with how he performed in a straight-track jump-out last Friday which was won by Written By (Written Tycoon) and also featured other Coolmore contenders Zousain (Zoustar), Lean Mean Machine (Zoustar) and Paquirri (I Am Invincible).

“I think he was going as good as all of them,” Hayes said. “So I really like him. He's a good each-way chance.

“It's a very competitive race, but I think he's definitely going to really sprint well fresh.”

“We've come to the conclusion we think he's a really good fresh sprinter.”

Long Leaf is out of Frustrating (Stravinsky {USA}), a daughter of grand producing mare Parfore (NZ) (Gold Brose), whose progeny include Group One-winning sprinters Terravista (Captain Rio {GB}) and Tiger Tees (Dubawi {IRE}).

He bypassed the G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) with his trainers preferring to wait for the Coolmore.

“I think it was a good decision not to run him in the Caulfield Guineas. I don't think we would have beaten Chris Waller's horse The Autumn Sun, and he's freshened up excellent,” Hayes said.

Hiccup for Red Verdon

G1 Melbourne Cup hopeful Red Verdon (USA) (Lemon Drop Kid {USA}) has suffered a set-back.

The Ed Dunlop-trained entire, who is currently 20th in order of entry for the Cup, has a bruised foot and missed being worked on Thursday as a result.

“He’s got a bit of a pulse in a foot,” Dunlop said. “We have had the farrier in, he has a little bruise in his foot.

“The farrier has taken the shoe off and we are hot and cold pulsing it. It’s only a 24-hour problem, it’s just come at the wrong time with the Melbourne Cup coming up so quickly.

“He has missed a day’s work, but that will probably be the only problem.”

Consensus resumes at Tauranga

Consensus (Postponed {USA}) begins her path back to the G1 Zabeel Classic, a race she won in 2016, when she runs in a 1300m race at Tauranga on Saturday.

Coming off a three-start Australian campaign where her best run was fourth in the G1 Ranvet S. in Sydney, the 7-year-old has been given a good rest and is set to target the summer riches .

She trialled at Te Aroha last Thursday and trainer Stephen McKee says she will take substantial improvement from her first-up run .

“She’s carrying quite a bit of weight as an older mare so we just gave her a quiet trial but she actually went quite well. Her trial was a couple of seconds faster than the next heat and she had a good blow afterwards so she’s really going to improve with this week’s race,” McKee said.

“I’m not expecting a lot from her on Saturday, she’s got 60kgs and it’s going to be a wet track so she’s going to improve a hell of a lot with the run,” McKee said.

“She’ll be naturally competitive as she always is, especially when she’s fresh but if she can run in the first four or five I’ll be pretty happy with her going forward."

She will have another run at Tauranga before stepping up to G1 Captain Cook at Trentham and then targeting a second win in the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.