An awkward barrier is standing between class mare See You In Heaven and victory in Saturday’s $120,000 Listed Leon Macdonald Stakes (1400m) at Morphettville.
See You In Heaven couldn’t have been more impressive in her four-year-old return when she sat wide and was too smart for a class field of seasoned horses in the Group 3 Behemoth Stakes a fortnight ago, a run just below her personal best according to leading rating’s experts.
Co-trainer Richard Jolly said she had taken solid improvement from her return but faces barrier nine around the tight turning Morphettville Parks track.
“She’s well, we couldn’t be happier with her,’’ Jolly said.
“Hopefully she could settle in the first five or six, I just think she’s going to need a little bit of luck from the barrier,’’ he said.
He echoed jockey Jake Toeroek’s post-race comments following the Behemoth Stakes suggesting the mare may have come back better than ever despite boasting an impressive juvenile record.
A Flemington winner on debut in the Group 3 Ottawa Stakes, See You In Heaven won the Listed Dequetteville Stakes and Group 3 Breeders’ Stakes in her two-year-old season before winning the Group 2 Sandown Guineas at Caulfield as a three-year-old and has missed a placed just twice in her 12 start career.
“She’s been amazing,’’ Jolly said on SEN.
“She won the Ottawa as a two-year-old, a lot of horses who do that, a couple of years later you never see them again.
“She’s turned four and won at weight-for-age straight away, she’s continuing to get better and better,’’ he said.
Melbourne will be the next stop win, lose or draw with the Let’s Elope Stakes and potential clash with boom West Australian mare Amelia’s Jewel at her next run, her target race the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes at Flemington on Derby Day.
“Spring carnivals are always tough,’’ Jolly said.
“She has the right credentials for some nice mares’ races over there.
“The goal is the Empire Rose on Derby Day, that’s where we’re headed with her. She’ll probably go to the Let’s Elope all going well three weeks following this run on Saturday.
“In between there we can pick and choose, there are a lot of options to get our way to the Empire Rose,’’ he said.
