Lady Colours has had three barrier trials in preparation for her comeback to racing at Doomben on Monday but trainer Bruce Hill says she hasn’t yet won the battle of the bulge.
The three-year-old had a gruelling summer campaign and hasn’t raced since February.
She will be carrying some extra condition when she competes against her own age group over 1110m.
“She’s a pretty big girl at the moment and I’ve given her three trials this time in to help her work off some of the extra condition she’s been carrying,” Hill said.
“Her first trial earlier this month was a very easy hitout. Her next one was solid and her last trial here on Tuesday again was a pretty solid test but it was what she needed.”
The daughter of Red Dazzler was bought for $90,000 by Hill who races her in a syndicate which includes long-time stable client Les Cowell.
Lady Colours has more than doubled her purchase price in prizemoney, courtesy of three wins including the Magic Millions Tickets (900m) in which the beaten brigade included Doubtfilly, who went on to finish fourth in the Golden Slipper.
Hill believes he made the correct call to miss the winter carnival to enable Lady Colours to recuperate from her busy first campaign.
“She had a pretty hard preparation last year and giving her a good break during the autumn and most of the winter has done her the world of good,” he said.
Hill says Lady Colours has enough tactical speed to take advantage of her favourable draw but he will leave riding plans up to jockey Paul Hammersley.
“You can put her wherever you want in a race and drawing a good gate is a big plus for her first-up,” he said.
Better Than Ready, a rival of Lady Colours, will have another gear change as trainer Kelly Schweida strives to find the right formula for the colt.
When Better Than Ready won first-up at Doomben on September 8 he wore blinkers but that gear was swapped for a visor when he finished third to Reflectance at his next start on September 22.
Schweida has removed the visor and added a cross-over noseband to Better Than Ready on Monday.
