Buoyed by a rousing trackwork gallop and the booking of champion jockey James Mcdonald, Gary Portelli is quietly hoping that Queen Of Clubs can announce her carnival credentials at Randwick.
While logic tells him to expect her to be outsprinted in the Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, Portelli also thinks highly enough of the three-year-old to not completely disregard her chances.
“Her trackwork on Tuesday was a Group One performance gallop,” Portelli said.
“She worked with Encap, matched motors with him if not had his measure. They ran really good time on the Polytrack so I’m going to the race pretty excited.
“I doubt she is a 1200-metre horse but the heavy track might work with her stamina.”
Also fuelling Portelli’s optimism is McDonald.
While he wasn’t in the saddle for Queen of Clubs’ breakthrough win over 1400m at Rosehill in June, he did partner her in a recent barrier trial at Warwick Farm, prompting Portelli to moot running her in the Midway Handicap (1200m) on Saturday’s undercard to retain his services.
“I rang his manager to see if he could ride her, thinking he probably wouldn’t want to ride her in the Silver Shadow but that there was a Midway on the same day and maybe if I started her in the Midway I might get ‘J Mac’ to stick with her,” Portelli said.
“His manager said, ‘don’t worry about the Midway, he will ride her in the Silver Shadow’.
“If she can run well and give him a good feel, the Flight Stakes is the race we earmarked for her as a two-year-old with her pedigree.”
Portelli is less keen to launch Encap’s preparation on a wet track but is almost resigned to running him in the Show County Quality (1200m) to get his campaign underway.
The Doncaster Mile placegetter was well beaten in the 2024 All Aged Stakes (1400m) at his only start on heavy ground but Portelli said the result was inconclusive and the horse was jumping out of his skin.
“They called the meeting off after that race and he was at the end of his campaign so there’s a question mark over whether he was at his best at that point,” Portelli said.
“Maybe we just run and see.
“He just needs to race. He’s too well.”
Encap will be ridden by Nash Rawiller and is being aimed towards next month’s Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) which he won last year.
