Image: Bruno Cannatelli
Fast filly returns early in 3-year-old fillies sprint at Flemington.
Considering Esha started just four months ago in her third start at $6.50 in a weight-for-age Group 1, you’d think an off-season sprint for three-year-old fillies would be an easy choice.
But trainer Shane Nichols takes nothing for granted with his daughter of Extreme Choice and I Am A Star.
Esha returns in the $150,000 Jockey Celebration Sprint at Flemington on Saturday and while Nichols is happy with her preparation, including an impressive win at the Balnarring 1000m on New Year’s Eve, he admits the 1100m race is a good test.
“It’s not a fait accompli; she’s 60kg, she’s 1100 meters first after one test and she’s the first time on the straight,” said the Mornington trainer, who works with Hayden Black.
“So there are a few variables that we don’t know about. But physically she looks very good, her work has been good and she is healthy and well.”
One thing in her favor is an impeccable first-place record. Esha, a brilliant debut winner at Morphettville in May, was put away and was even more impressive in the stronger class at Moonee Valley on her next start on August 9.
The ease of that victory prompted Nichols to test Esha in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) on her third start, in which she finished eighth, the same position she occupied in the Group 3 Champagne Stakes (1200m) at the same track on 26 September.
Nichols is confident Esha, a $900,000 Magic Millions yearling, can become a force in the Stakes class again and sees Saturday’s race as a great stepping stone to the Autumn Festival of Racing.
“This is just a nice lead in the Peter Le Grand Stakes, a Group 3 over 1100 at Caulfield in four weeks,” said Nichols.
“So she’ll have that run under her belt and because she went out early in the spring, she hasn’t had a hard spring.
“She’s still quite immature, but she’s definitely better set up now.”
Lachlan Neindorf becomes Esha’s fifth raceday jockey in as many starts at Flemington, where she has drawn barrier 12, and she holds the $4 second betting line behind Military Tycoon ($3.50).
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