Monday brought a shift to the landscape of this Saturday’s Group 2 Hollindale Stakes as Pride Of Jenni received final confirmation for the $500,000 Group 2 race.
The well-liked mare features in a list of 20 nominations for the Gold Coast feature, joined by the previous two Melbourne Cup champions, Knight’s Choice and Half Yours.
The 1800-metre race marks Pride Of Jenni’s return following a fifth-place finish in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf (1600m) at Randwick on April 11, with owner Tony Ottobre noting that her condition post-race persuaded him and trainer Ciaron Maher to target 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.”
If she meets expectations this weekend, Pride Of Jenni is set to advance to the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) on May 23.
Her sole prior outing in Queensland was last year’s Doomben Cup where she ended up 10th.
The fifth in the Queen Of The Turf for Pride Of Jenni came after a close second to Light Infantry Man in the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m), following her seasonal debut third in the Group 1 All-Star Mile (1600m).
With her entry confirmed, Pride Of Jenni shares the $5 second-favouritism in Hollindale Stakes wagering alongside She’s A Hustler, trailing only Half Yours at $2.25.
Check the Australian betting sites for the top odds in the Hollindale Stakes markets.