Brisbane filly Oakleigh Girl is back on track for a Melbourne campaign aimed at the race which inspired her name.
The three-year-old has not raced since she finished fifth in the Group Three Royal Randwick Stakes in April last year and missed a planned return in last month’s Magic Millions Sprint with a bruised hoof.
Oakleigh Girl
Trainer Dan Bougoure says she will have a jump-out on Tuesday morning ahead of a evening flight to Melbourne.
“She missed about ten days work so I decided to ease up and set her for the Melbourne carnival,” Bougoure said.
“She has won in Melbourne and things are going OK so far.”
The Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield on February 28 is the aim for the filly who is the daughter of two winners of the Group One spring – Snitzel (2006) and Miss Kournikova (2001).
Oakleigh Girl won the Group Three 7News Stakes on debut in November 2013 at Flemington.
Her other win from her six starts came the following month at Doomben. She then finished second in the 2014 Magic Millions.
Bougoure meanwhile is at a loss to explain the poor run of two-year-old Egyptian Melody at Doomben on Saturday.
The filly started the odds-on favourite to make a winning debut in the Gary Palmer Memorial Hcp (1110m) but was beaten 12 lengths into sixth place.
Jockey Damian Browne said Egyptian Melody was initially reluctant to race inside other runners but did not finish the race off as he had expected.
Bougoure said a veterinary examination had failed to reveal any significant problems and he would monitor her for the next few days.
