Mark Newnham would have just been happy with "a nice Oaks trial" but when he saw Nakeeta Jane (So You Think {NZ}) strut into Randwick's theatre of the horse like she owned it before the G2 Light Fingers Stakes, his expectations quickly changed.
"I said to (jockey) Josh Parr before he went out, "she could run a nice fifth, or she could blow them away," he said after Nakeeta Jane produced the latter. "Watching them parade, if you asked somebody "which filly would you want to take home?," you would say that's the one."
"Watching them parade, if you asked somebody "which filly would you want to take home?," you would say that's the one." - Trainer, Mark Newnham
That physical assessment was a far cry from Nakeeta Jane's first prep, where, while third in the G1 Flight Stakes, she carried a frame that was yet to fill out and left her looking like a girl competing against full-grown women.
On Saturday, facing a classy field that contained many of those full-grown women that had beaten her in the spring, Nakeeta Jane returned transformed.
"She has improved physically and mentally, she paraded fantastically well today, her mind and her body have caught up now and she is on a level playing field with the other fillies," Newnham said. "Last prep she was racing fillies that had already had a solid 2-year-old campaign , but now she has had the catch-up and is outstanding."
What made Nakeeta Jane's explosive win so impressive, other than she has done it at her fourth race start, is that her main target is still 56 days away and is a race double in distance to the Light Fingers: the G1 Australian Oaks.
"The 1200m was the only issue, but on her work and the way she has returned she was capable of doing something like that." - Mark Newnham
"The 1200m was the only issue, but on her work and the way she has returned she was capable of doing something like that," Newnham said. "I had an inkling that could happen today, just because of the rapid improvement she showed last preparation.
A more mature Nakeeta Jane
"We weren't game to run her in anything less than 1400m last time in because we didn't think she would keep up. But she has shown in her work and her trials this time that she can actually jump and travel. It was just a matter of her maturing. She is top class, there is no doubt about that. To be able to do what she is doing after four starts, we have a good road ahead of us I would say."
Nakeeta Jane will return to Randwick in two weeks for the G1 Surround Stakes and then follow a path to the Oaks with a filly he labeled "special."
"From what she has gone from last preparation which was a filly that was very green at the trials, to being beaten a head in the G1 Flight Stakes at her third start, you know you are working with something special," he said. " That tells me she is top class. A filly that can do that off four starts and with limited experience tells you the road ahead is pretty good, because she has improved and keeps improving. You never really know when that will finish."
