Young trainer Alex Rae is confident that his filly Enna’s Dream can return to winning ways when she runs at Sandown on Saturday afternoon.
The daughter of Winning Rupert caught the eye at Caulfield first-up over 1100m and rises in distance to 1400m for her second-up outing in the Sportsbet Bet With Mates Handicap.
“Her work on Tuesday morning was fantastic and we’re really looking forward to getting her up to 1400m, we really think that that’s her sweet spot,” Rae said.
“She was terrific first time over the short course, we hope that she’ll improve again, we’re expecting her to be really hard to beat.”
In her first racing campaign last spring, Enna’s Dream demonstrated that she had potential, winning twice and finishing second in a quality race at Sandown before going on to contest the Group 1 Thousand Guineas.
“She wasn’t out of place in that race but with the benefit of hindsight, we know now we probably just pushed her that one step too far,” Rae reflected.
“After that, we gave her a big, long break. In doing that, we obviously missed the early parts of the autumn, but we’ve allowed ourselves to be really strong through the winter months.”
WATCH: Enna’s Dream’s first-up run
Rae noted that the outcome of Saturday’s race will determine the path ahead for Enna’s Dream.
“There are so many options at this point in time,” he said.
“We just need to see where she does end up and I suppose we’ll find out on Saturday.”
Enna’s Dream is at $4.60 in Sportsbet’s market for the Race 3 on Saturday.
The metropolitan meeting will also be an important one for Rae’s stable stalwart Chief Altony, who is due to contest the Tile Importer Handicap (1600m).
“He’s getting closer to D-Day,” Rae said.
“I feel a little bit sorry for him in saying that because he’s a wet-tracker who hasn’t seen a wet track in nearly two years at a suitable distance. He’s not going to get one on Saturday either.
“From the stable’s perspective, he’s going really well, we feel if he has a little bit of luck go his way, he’s going to be somewhere near some good form.
“Last start at Warrnambool, he was asked to do something that nothing did over the whole carnival and that’s circle them and make ground out wide and he actually did that quite well.
“He’s probably over the odds on Saturday, but we just hope he can run a respectable race so he buys himself a little bit more time as we gear up for the wetter winter months.”
Chief Altony is at $17 with Sportsbet for Race 8.