A Lotta Love has already been placed at Group Three level and her trainer is hoping that is an omen for her next assignment.
Sam Pritchard-Gordon has aimed the five-year-old at Saturday’s Group Three Cockram Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield since her unplaced run in the Leilani Series Final at Flemington last month.
Pritchard-Gordon is hoping race fitness from a winter campaign will give A Lotta Love an edge over some of her rivals.
A Lotta Love finished third in the Group Three Proud Miss Stakes in Adelaide in May to earn her first stakes placing while she was a winner over the Cockram Stakes course and distance two starts ago on July 2 in a benchmark-90 for mares with Dylan Dunn in the saddle.
The apprentice has the ride again on Saturday.
“I was surprised by how close she went to winning that Group Three in Adelaide, and she went into that race as a bit of a shy at the stumps,” Pritchard-Gordon said.
“This race has been a target and I think that can only help. I also think she’s a mare that just keeps on improving.
“I know she’s just turned five but she’s an Al Maher and is only lightly raced. She’s pretty easy to place because she races so tractably.”
Pritchard-Gordon says A Lotta Love has spent plenty of time at Balnarring beach since her most recent start and he believes she is in good form heading to Saturday.
“I’m really pleased with the way she’s come up in the last two weeks,” he said.
He had planned to give her a soft barrier trial on Monday but the Cranbourne trials were cancelled, something he did not believe would be an issue.
He said he liked the idea of going into an early season stakes race with a mare who had raced through winter.
“In my mind I always think the fillies or mares that have been racing through the winter seem to have the edge in those early Victorian mares’ black type races,” he said.
