Canberra based trainer Paul Jones is confident stable star Caprossa can make a return to the winner's stall at Randwick on Saturday when she lines up in the seventh race of the day.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Having proven completely luckless in the Wagga Town Plate two starts back, Caprossa showed good improvement at Rosehill last start when working home soundly to finish fourth behind the Luke Pepper trained Miss Ready.
"It was her first go at 1300m and she did have five weeks between runs so she was probably entitled to just tire that last 50m," Jones said.
Having notched up a very impressive win first up at Canterbury, Jones felt Saturday's affair was well within her reach.
"The field is a very similar strength to what she has won before and with form around the likes of She's Clean you'd expect that to hold up on Saturday," Jones said.
"Obviously it would have been nice to draw a little bit closer in then out in barrier 11 but as far as how she is working and her fitness levels I'm quite happy with that.
"With her fair share of luck in the race I'd expect her to be hard to beat."
The strong likelihood of a wet track won't dampen Jones's spirit as he felt the drop back to 1200m was ideal.
"I think she is better on top of the ground but since we aren't going to 1400m we are happy to be on a wet track over 1200m," Jones said.
With only three runners set to go around at Canberra on Friday Jones felt progressive mare Candy Tuft was his strongest chance of the three.
Making her return to the races off the back of a close fourth placing at Rosehill last time in Jones felt she is a work in progress as she is still taking time to mature.
"She has always shown us a fair bit from day dot," Jones said.
"She's just taking a little while to mature because she is such a tall horse.
"She is over 17 hands so she is a fair lump of a girl and has taken a really long time to mature so we're hoping she'll prove to be a lot better this preparation.
"She has run okay on the Synthetic without winning I think she has a better horse on the grass at those longer sweeping tracks.
"I think she heads into tomorrow as a pretty good chance."
Stablemate Gorgeous Amelia shapes as one of her main threats with Jones confident she will strip a lot fitter following her latest outing.
"Gorgeous Amelia will strip a lot fitter for tomorrow and I'm hoping they'll be fighting out the finish," Jones said.
"It's a bit hard to split them if, Gorgeous Amelia turns up with her strong Acton form and she is a tough nut to crack once she gets her own way in front.
"In saying that I have a slight lean towards Candy Tuft as Gorgeous Amelia will be even better for the run tomorrow."
