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By Ray Hickson

She was the star of the official two-year-old trials and trainer Ciaron Maher is expecting Enthaar to produce on race day what she did in practice.

Trainer Ciaron Maher (Pic: Steve Hart)

Maher says his Warwick Farm stable is dominated by the youngsters and the filly has always been the sharpest and the clear standout.

On the back of her five length trial win Enthaar looms large over the Listed $160,000 Keeneland Gimcrack Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on Saturday and Maher said the fact champion jockey James McDonald was keen to align himself with his filly says it all.

“I would say you’d need a crowbar to get him off,’’ he said.

“We thought she was the one, we gave her a little jump out in Melbourne and then when she had a jump out at Warwick Farm she was equally impressive again. So it was no surprise what she did the other day.

“Her sectionals were impressive and the way she did was impressive for me. She’s an exciting horse for sure.”

McDonald has won two Gimcrack Stakes, on Calliope (2015) and Jorda (2016), and the TAB market says he’ll make it three with Enthaar at $1.75 on Wednesday.

Enthaar, who races in the same colours as Golden Slipper winning fillies Mossfun and Estijaab, is a natural racehorse according to Maher, who co-trains with David Eustace.

“These early ones you don’t have to train them a lot, you just educate them. They do things easier than the other horses,’’ he said.

“Your natural horses, you basically put a saddle on them and they know what they are doing.

“In terms of fitness it’s just about educating them. We travel them early, to give them the experience of different tracks and ways of going.

“When you get to race day and you do travel between states it’s not a big deal to them. She came through the trial well and I couldn’t be happier with her.”

It’s amazing to think that Gai Waterhouse has never won a Gimcrack Stakes, considering how often she prepares a colt to win the Breeders’ Plate, and she’ll have three fillies out to correct that statistic in Total Babe, Vaccine and Miss Hoff.

Co-trainer Adrian Bott said he has plenty of respect for Enthaar, who ran the fastest time of the official trials, but believes there’s talent among the stable’s trio.

“She was the most impressive to the eye on the day, no doubt about that, but they are two-year-olds with limited exposure so it’s who can best handle the pressure on the day,’’ Bott said.

Bott said Total Babe and Vaccine both won their trials in good style while he was rapt with Miss Hoff’s effort to run second behind Vaccine.

“Total Babe showed brilliant speed and ran pretty good time in her heat. She’s the real natural running type out of the three,’’ he said.

Enthaar wins a trial at Randwick on September 21

“Vaccine wasn’t quite able to match that early speed in her heat but she is very professional.

“She settled and found her feet, raced tractably, and it’s a big ask for a two-year-old to take the run when presented and she really lengthened nicely. That will take her a long way come race day.

“Miss Hoff was excellent in her trial in the fact she showed great speed from a wide draw and was caught three wide so she did more work than any of them.

“For her to let down the way she did was very encouraging. Late in the trial she peaked on the run because of the amount of work she did so she will improve.”

Tommy Berry rides Total Babe, $4.80 with TAB, while Tim Clark partners Vaccine ($12) and Sam Clipperton takes the reins on Miss Hoff ($18).

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Royal Randwick meeting