Finally free of the back problems which have plagued her, talented mare Invest is set to resume at Flemington on Saturday with the Group One Mackinnon Stakes in her sights.
The winner of the Schweppes Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville in May, Invest was spelled after struggling on the heavy track in the Queensland Oaks.
The mare, who lines up in the Group Two Blazer Stakes (1410m), divides her time between the stables of Clarry Conners in Sydney and his son Heath in Melbourne.
Heath Connors said she had come back fitter, stronger and more mature but he was not planning an intensive campaign for the four-year-old.
“The plan this time is not to have a gut-buster of a preparation,” Connors said.
“She’ll probably have four to five runs and the last will probably be the Group One Mackinnon Stakes (November 3) or the Group Two Matriarch Stakes (November 10).
“Then she’s got time to have a nice break and then come back for a good autumn.”
Connors is not sweating on the Blazer result, but is more concerned about Invest’s run.
“I’m not overly worried,” he said. “A place and I would be over the moon but we’ve drawn a terrible barrier (15).
“At some stage as long as Pete (jockey Peter Mertens) can get her into clear running and allow her to hit the line and she gets home strongly… you know you’re going the right way.
“She is a mare so every time we go around we are trying but I think she’ll get to the mile around her third run, which will probably be the Group One Myer Classic (1600m).
“That’s when I think she’ll start turning it on.”
Invest had to have intensive treatment last year for back tightness which is the reason she will not be run again on a heavy track.
“When the track is too wet it’s probably a little bit too shifty underneath but I think dead and slow she will still be competitive,” Conners said.
