All is in readiness for the spring return of Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign.
Her trainer says the filly has had a faultless build-up and has been flying in her trackwork.
Now it’s a matter of seeing how the three-year-old measures up against a bunch of proven older sprinters in the Group One Moir Stakes (1000m) on Friday night.
She Will Reign arrived in Melbourne from Sydney on Thursday morning ahead of the $500,000 weight-for-age sprint at Moonee Valley.
The flying filly won four of her five starts as a two-year-old and trainer Gary Portelli is excited to have his stable star back ready to race.
“I couldn’t have had a better preparation with her,” Portelli said.
“I couldn’t have her any better going into the race.
“As far as how she lines up against this opposition, it’s really hard to know.
“So like everyone else we’re pretty excited and intrigued by it all.”
The Moir will not only be She Will Reign’s first start in Melbourne and first as a three-year-old, but also her first test against experienced older sprinters the calibre of Group One winners Terravista, Malaguerra and Russian Revolution.
“They’re proven at the distance. They’ve been around the track and have plenty of ticks in the boxes,” Portelli said.
“All we know is we’ve got a Golden Slipper horse resuming.”
Portelli is aware a number of Golden Slipper winners haven’t come back and made their mark as older horses but has faith in She Will Reign.
“We’ve got to hope that we break the hoodoo and we’re something different to previous Slipper winners,” he said.
“And until we step her out, we’re not going to know ourselves really.
“But there’s no issue with her. She’s 100 per cent sound. She’s been flying at trackwork. It’s just now whether she’s good enough to step up to the big boys.”
He believes she can.
“I’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t, because I think she’s pretty good. So we’ll see what happens.”
She Will Reign, to be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, is on the second line of betting at $4 behind Russian Revolution ($3.30).
Because She Will Reign had next month’s The Everest (1200m) locked in as her main spring mission, it gave Portelli the opportunity to give her a good break after the Slipper.
He said She Will Reign had developed and was 40 kilograms heavier than last campaign.
