Ben Allen is sweating on the Racing Victoria’s assessment of Marabi’s Australia Stakes win with the young jockey desperate to learn whether he will be able to maintain his association with her in the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate.
The 22-year-old is hoping the five-year-old mare gets 55kg in the 1100-metre handicap at Caulfield on February 26.
Anything less would require Allen to undergo a strict diet or forfeit the ride, as he did in the Listed Christmas Stakes when Jamie Kah took the ride with Allen unable to get down to 54kg.
“I’m hoping she gets 55(kg) so I can make the weight comfortably but that’ll depend how they rate her after Saturday,” Allen told RSN’s The Verdict.
“But for a horse like her you’d push the boundaries a bit more than what you would for another horse.
“Probably 54.5kg would be the bottom of me.”
Marabi made it six-straight wins to start her career with her 2.75-length romp in Saturday’s Group 2, which she entered with a rating of 97.
Ratings from Saturday hadn’t been updated on Monday morning, but the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained daughter of I Am Invincible will easily break through the 100 mark.
Last year Zoutori was the 58kg topweight with a rating of 109. The highest-rated horse under $26 in TAB’s Oakleigh Plate odds is Masked Crusader (116) who is not a confirmed starter.
Jonker and The Inferno, both 111, are the next highest-rated and should one of that duo be the 58kg topweight and Marabi would need to be assessed at 109 to receive 55kg given the mares’ 2kg weight allowance.
No matter who rides, Marabi will start a short-priced favourite in the Oakleigh Plate with Allen conscious of one scenario that might bring about her undoing.
“The only thing I’d probably be worried about is the Oakleigh Plate is a very high-pressure race,” Allen said.
“Normally a fair few apprentices get rides in it, so they seem to go quite quickly and that might be the only thing that can bring her undone; if she got attacked the majority the first half of the race.”
