Having achieved a stakes win with Precious Gem, trainer Henry Dwyer will now give the mare her chance to add a Group One victory to her resume.
Precious Gem joined Dwyer’s stable after last year’s spring carnival and the mare’s new trainer initially had his sights on the Group Two Queen Of The South Stakes (1600m) in Adelaide on Saturday.
But her performances over shorter distances convinced Dwyer to change plans and go to Saturday’s Group One Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m).
Precious Gem added a valuable stakes win in the Listed Anniversary Vase over 1400m at Caulfield on April 16, two weeks after a fast-finishing second in the Hareeba Stakes (1200m) at Mornington.
“She came to me having been multiple stakes-placed but without a stakes win,” Dwyer said.
“So that was the main aim and we managed to do that and she’s going really well. I think restricting her to 1200 and 1400 metres and doing a lighter workload suits her.”
The Anniversary Vase was to be her lead-up to the Queen Of The South.
“She went so well, and we’d done so little with her, that we thought we’d just freshen her up again and go back to 1200 in the Group One,” Dwyer said.
Precious Gem is entered for the National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast in early June.
“We’ve probably got two runs left with her,” Dwyer said.
“She’s done a good job and it’s probably not worth any more to the owners for her to win another stakes race now, except if it’s a Group One. So we might as well have a crack at that.”
Dwyer also plans to start Precious Gem in the Glenlogan Park Stakes (1350m) in Brisbane a few days before she goes to auction and she has also been nominated for the Stradbroke Handicap and Dane Ripper Stakes.
“It would just depend on her form and it would depend on who bought her and if they were feeling benevolent enough to give her back to me,” Dwyer said.
