Ciaron Maher utilised the opportunity to shift a compact group of horses from Cranbourne for workouts at Caulfield on Tuesday morning.

Among them was the consistent mare Pride Of Jenni, preparing for an appearance in a fortnight on Saturday.

Maher suggested the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington as the probable upcoming target for Pride Of Jenni, with the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick the following month also in the mix.

Pride Of Jenni kicked off her autumn preparation with a third-place finish behind Tom Kitten in the All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington on March 7.

Maher noted Pride Of Jenni had shown expected progress from that effort and worked sharply by herself at Caulfield.

“Dec (Declan Bates) said she was wanting to pull him in half early in the gallop, so that’s always good to see,” Maher said.

“She had a nice blow after her first-up run where she ran pretty quick time, fresh up, so she will take natural improvement and she wasn’t here (this morning) to bring her on or anything, it was just a tick over gallop.

“I’m quite happy with how she came through her first-up run. Her weight is good, her action is good and she just had an easy time this morning.

“The Australian Cup or the Queen Of The Turf, is next, but at this stage the Australian Cup.

“You would think Flemington is more chance of being drier than Sydney, but the main thing is she came through it well and we’ll track towards the Australian Cup.”

Accompanying Pride Of Jenni were Middle Earth and UK arrival King Of The Sea.

Middle Earth is readying for a belated autumn-winter series in Queensland ahead of a Melbourne Cups push, while King Of The Sea continues adjusting to local conditions after joining Maher’s yard earlier this year.

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