Punters might well be lamenting the defeat of star Tasmanian mare Mystic Journey on her resumption, but it’s certainly not doom and gloom at the Trinder Racing.
Trainer Adam Trinder said ‘Betty’ fully met stable expectations for the run, at the unsuitable trip of 1200m, despite being beaten as a $1.10 favourite.
“She pulled up really well and to be perfectly honest, we were really happy with her.
“As a stable we were guarded about her chances going into the race and, as we expressed in the media openly, she had four runs at 1200m prior to last night and hadn’t struck blow in any of them so I didn’t see last night being a lot different.”
To the naked eye, it appeared Mystic Journey lacked her custom turn of foot in the run to the line, but the sectional times (listed below) prove that wasn’t the case.
“I think the tale of the story comes from the sectionals, she’s probably gone above and beyond,” Trinder said.
“She broke 44 (seconds) for the last half mile, broke 33 (seconds) for the last 600m and come home in ‘tens’ (10 seconds per 200m) the whole way and that’ll win you any sort of 1400m race that you want to target.”
That 1400m target will likely be at home in Hobart in just under three weeks, provided the Elwick Park track is back up to standard.
“Without being disrespectful to the race last night, that was a barrier trial effectively for her,” Trinder said.
“We just wanted to give her a nice, healthy blow on a good surface and it’s certainly served its purpose and created a good foundation for us to build off.
“She’ll take good improvement of it and next time move to 1400m and go around a justified $1.20 favourite with stable expectations, as opposed to last night where there was no stable expectation.”
While Trinder is adamant the target remains the All-Star Mile, he conceded she will need to impress the public in her 1400m run if she’s to garner enough votes to get a start in the $5 million feature.
“It is concerning from a vote perspective but, from a stable perspective, we feel she is well placed moving forward,” he said
“That’s probably been the best 1200m run of her career, but wait until she gets to the 1400m and I think you’ll see a totally different horse.”
Mystic Journey didn’t receive enough of the public vote to gain an automatic entry in 2019 but was awarded a Wild Card following her dominant G1 Australian Guineas victory and went on to win the inaugural running of the race.
Mystic Journey is $17 for the All-Star Mile.
– racing.com
