Bam’s On Fire has been knocking on the door of a first stakes win and gets her latest chance at Caulfield.
The mare runs in Saturday’s Group Three Elvis Thurgood 40th Anniversary Cup named for the jockey who suffered serious brain and spinal injuries in a fall in the 1980 Easter Cup.
Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Bam’s On Fire has been placed five times at stakes level, finishing second in her past three starts, all in Group races, in Melbourne.
Maher and Eustace also accepted with Dr Drill in Saturday’s race but he will remain in Sydney to run in a benchmark race at Randwick on Saturday week.
At her most recent start Bam’s On Fire was beaten half a length in the Group Two Sunline Stakes at The Valley on March 20 after leading and she drops back from 1600m to 1400m.
“She certainly deserves to be a stakes winner,” Eustace said.
“She’s had a terrific preparation and she was very brave in the Sunline Stakes.
“If we can make her a stakes winner before the preparation is over that would be ideal.
“She’s definitely gone to another level this preparation. It’s just a bit of age and a bit of maturing.
“It looks a good enough race on paper and we’ll be going there with confidence that she can run well.”
Eustace says Bam’s On Fire has her quirks and can hang in her races but says she has been able to find the rail in her past couple of races which helps.
To be ridden by Jamie Kah, Bam’s On Fire has barrier four and is the $5 second favourite behind last-start Listed winner Wild Planet at $3.
“We’ll keep it simple,” Eustace said.
“She seems to have appreciated finding the rail because she then can’t hang, so we’ll be positive and roll along.
“She ran out a strong mile last start so we’ve just kept her fairly fresh and well at home and we’re looking forward to it.”
There are three stakes races on Saturday’s program with the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Secret Blaze the favourite for the Group Three Easter Cup (2000m) while the Chris Waller-trained Relucent heads the market for the Listed Galilee Series Final (2400m) for three-year-olds.
