Monday, 17 March 2025: Jenni’s back, back, back again.
 | | PRIDE OF JENNI winning the Sportsbet Peter Young Stakes | |
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Pride Of Jenni 
returned with a quite remarkable win in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m), first-up off a bleed and short-lived retirement.
Ciaron Maher worked his magic with the mare who also recorded her first ever first-up win, at 1800m no less.
She's run to a Racing & Sports rating of 123 which is an outstanding effort, her equal-sixth highest career rating. It's also her best ever fresh rating by some margin, her next best coming in at 117 when second to Mr Brightside is last year's Orr Stakes.
The ride by
Craig Newitt was inch perfect on Saturday, arguably even better, strictly sectionally speaking, than any of her big wins when hers (and Bates) big trick was to go slightly too fast in front which messed with the other jockeys timing.
Froggy has ridden this race close to perfectly sectionally efficient which is very hard to do, especially when you have to make the speed yourself.
It'll be fascinating to see how she goes this preparation, and more importantly, if other jockeys are going to be awake to her tactics.
Zardozi was very good from too far back on Saturday, and while there's no case to be made she should've won, the sectional mark-up suggests it could've been much closer.
It appears both go to the Australian Cup next, and Jenni should only improve from a fitness perspective, no matter how well Ciaron Maher has done to get her up to the mark here.
She'll go into the Australian Cup as the highest rating last-start performance by some margin and will create an interesting betting proposition. For now though, it's great to see Jenni back and doing her thing, because she's great for the game.
Lady Shenandoah The filly's done it again, taking out the Group 1
Coolmore Classic (1500m) under an outstanding ride by
James Mcdonald from the wide gate.
On the
Timeform 
scale, Lady Shenandoah has run a new peak, coming in at 119, although the RAS ratings' model, which is less reactive to weights, is a touch more conservative at 117, which is the same rating she ran in the Surround Stakes.
Firestorm , previously rated 111 on the RAS scale and 106 first-up, getting so close has made it tricky to rate Lady Shenandoah through the roof, but 117 is still a very good
Coolmore Classic performance.
Looking at the Timeform ratings (back to 2000), which are set to a much stricter weight-for-age scale, nothing gets close to the mare of the world, Sunline, who won the race in 2000 and 2002. She ran 128 on both occasions and held a peak of 129 over her career.
Typhoon Tracy, another three-year-old filly, ran to 121 on the Timeform scale while Lady Shenandoah matches Tuesday Joy (another filly) at 119.
Three very good fillies to have won this race and there's virtually nothing between those three performances.
Tuesday Joy went on to win another three Group One races- the Ranvet and Tancred in the following Autumn, and the Chipping Norton a year after that. Her peak rating on the RAS scale was 120.
Typhoon Tracy won another five Group One races- the Empire Rose, Orr (x2), Futurity and Queen Of The Turf. Racing & Sports make her peak 127 when she won the Futurity (then over 1600m) by nearly three lengths.
Firestorm has to be a big Doncaster hope on the minimum weight if they go there, while Lady Of Camelot has gone fantastically well again. I don't know where her win comes from, but if they did freshen her up from here, the Tatts Tiara in Queensland could potentially be perfect.
All honours to the winner though who keeps getting it done and can smash through the 120 barrier next preparation.
