Trainer Ciaron Maher’s 2016 Caulfield Cup winner Jameka is one step closer to making a return to the race track after completing a jump out at Caulfield this morning.
Jameka with Mark Zahra in the saddle wasn’t out to break any records and Maher said that the rising six year old mare will benefit greatly fitness wise from the outing.
“She was pretty fresh and keen, she got out of the stalls pretty well and got into a rhythm,” Maher told racing.com.
“There were some slick horses in that trial and it looked like they quickened away from her up the hill.
“But Mark (Zahra) knows her really well and he was happy with her action and they way she trialled and I think she’ll take a lot from that sort of trial under race conditions.
“It was probably all we wanted to see this morning, she’ll come on from that and she can go to the Cranbourne trials on Monday week.
“The deciding trial will be the next one over a bit of ground on a good surface at Cranbourne and we can really open her up to see if she’s got the fire in the belly.”
Maher will now give Jameka two more barrier trials before making a final Spring Carnival call on which direction to take her.
Jameka has proven herself to be one of the finest staying mares in the country with three Group 1 wins to her credit which include the 2015 $1m Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington, the 2016 $3m Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield and the 2017 $1.5m The BMW (2400m) at Rosehill.
Following her win in The BMW, Jameka suffered a bad bout of travel sickness and it was touch and go if she would pull through, but the mare has made a remarkable recovery and might get the chance to claim another Group 1 trophy during the 2018 Spring Carnival.
Jameka is the winner of of six of her twenty-four race starts and has amassed just over $4.8 million in prizemoney and is currently listed at $21 with Ladbrokes.com.au for the 2018 Group 1 $5m Caulfield Cup (2400m) run at Caulfield on October 20.
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