Anything Mountjoy achieves for the remainder of the campaign can be considered a bonus, but the Ballarat filly gets her shot at a lucrative Stakes victory this Saturday in Adelaide.
The Henry Dwyer-trained two-yerar-old will contest the $120,000 David Peacock Oaklands Plate (1400m) on the Morphettville Parks track.
Mountjoy was set for the $125,000 Elvstroem Classic (1300m) at Swan Hill earlier this month, in which she was a narrow-but-impressive winner from Fontein Jewel, and Dwyer said a shot at Listed victory while she was going so well was too good to pass up.
“The horse she beat at Swan Hill came out and won at Flemington the other day, so her form is good,” Dwyer said.
“She can definitely run a place, if not win, and she’s a well-bred filly that would be worth plenty if she could win over there.”
Mountjoy is a daughter of Street Boss and the Redoute’s Choice mare Lorne, who Dwyer bought for NZ$150,000 at last year’s Karaka Yearling Sale.
Dwyer had Karaka Millions ambitions with Mountjoy initially, only to be denied by a setback but she could be set for a trip to the same meeting next year if she performs well on Saturday.
“We’re going pretty deep into the winter with her running this week and I reckon she probably wants a decent break, so we might even try to get her over to New Zealand for the Karaka Millions three-year-old race,” he said.
“We wanted to get her there for the two-year-old race, but we might just be a year behind.”
Mountjoy is not Dwyer’s only hope in the Oaklands Plate with Mountjoy to be accompanied to Adelaide by And There You Go, a daughter of Hellbent who ran third at Donald at her only start.
“She surprised us a little bit running so well, it was an open-age maiden and she got home pretty well and nearly won,” Dwyer said.
“I think that’s more than enough to go against those two-year-olds over there, so it wouldn’t surprise if she was to run a placing.”
And There You Go fared the best of Dwyer’s pair at the barrier draw, coming up with gate four while Mountjoy will begin from the outside alley in the field of 14.
Dwyer has turned to the Adelaide’s Price brothers to partner his fillies with Will to ride Mountjoy and Ben to ride And There You Go.