Talented mare can provide tonic for injured trainer

Sue Walsh’s spirits will be lifted by a good first-up showing from the Group winner Exquisite Jewel at Trentham on Saturday.

The Foxton horsewoman, who trains in partnership with Bruce Gregory, was involved in a nasty incident on Thursday morning.

“She smashed her shoulder when she was unloading one off the float,” Gregory said. “It reared over and flattened her.”

Exquisite Jewel will return from her own injury woes this weekend and while expectations aren’t sky high, she is a quality performer.

The daughter of Lucky Unicorn enjoyed a rewarding three-year-old campaign when she won three races, including a defeat of the subsequent two-time Singapore Group One winner Werther in the Gr.3 Manawatu Classic.

She was also placed in the Gr.2 Championship Stakes, the Gr.3 Desert Gold Stakes and finished fourth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks.

Those performances earned her a trip to Queensland where her best effort was a fifth placing in the Gr.2 Roses at Doomben.

Exquisite Jewel was placed in a trial in her first appearance as a four-year-old before she was injured and spelled.

“She had a minor tendon strain and we’ve given her plenty of time and a lot of long, slow work,” Gregory said.

“She’s been back about 10 months and we’ve gone along very quietly with her. She’s been led off an old hack for a while and then down to the beach and then slowly stepping up.

“She had a jump-out at Levin and we were very pleased with her. She’s reasonably well, but she hasn’t run for a long time so we’ll get this one out of the way first and see how she pulls up before we do anything else.”