Gerald Ryan has been waiting for the day that Mallory extends beyond a short-course journey, and it will finally arrive when she heads to Randwick for the Tea Rose Stakes.
“I’ve been itching for a long time to get her to 1400 and 1600 metres,” Ryan said.
The three-year-old has been luckless in two Princess series runs over 1200m, affected by the fall in the Silver Shadow Stakes when she went to the line hard-held and then trapped wide throughout in the Furious Stakes when she stuck to her task to finish third.
She steps up to 1400m for the first time on Saturday when Ryan is hoping Mallory finally gets the breaks.
“What has turned out in the two races so far is the one who’s got the best run in the race has won the race,” Ryan said.
“She had no luck first-up in a race that was an awful race.
“But she came out of it well, went back there and raced good. She was three-wide the entire way but kept finding the line.”
Mallory has continued to thrive at home and Ryan says she has all the attributes of a high-class filly – she is athletic, eats her feed and has a great attitude.
She was on the third line of Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) betting as a $4.80 chance on Friday and Ryan maintains Mallory continues to be underrated.
“I think we’ve got a bit more of an opinion of her than a lot of the press and tipsters,” he said.
Latino Blend ran the race of her life to finish second to Swift Witness in the Silver Shadow and will tackle the Tea Rose after bypassing the second leg of the Princess series.
Co-trainer Peter Snowden said missing the Furious was part of their plan as they aim to peak her for next month’s Flight Stakes.
“She’s not a big, strong filly. She is only light,” Snowden said.
“I didn’t want to give her too many runs as we’d like to get to the Flight Stakes after the Tea Rose.”
The Group One Flight Stakes (1600m) is the final race in the Princess series and will be held at Randwick on October 2.
