By Tony Megahey
A buoyed Nick Olive offers every logic in pitching his inexperienced talent Tejori into the deep end for a Royal Randwick Class 3, TAB Highway (1200m) on Saturday.
The three-year-old Hinchinbrook filly is second-up from a 10-month spell, has had just three race starts, and is jumping a grade against older horses and prolific Highway combinations.
Tejori wins at Canberra for Brendan Ward. Image by Bradley Photographers
Danny Williams and Hugh Bowman are absolutely airborne combining with the ex-Waterhouse & Bott galloper, Cock Match; Matthew Dunn, with dual winner Ready to Humble, has won 23 Highway races, and Hellenism is one of the hottest prospects in country racing.
However, Olive, who burst into prominence with Group-winning filly and Caulfield Cup placegetter Single Gaze in 2017, isn’t fazed.
“This is a really smart filly, she ran faster time than the Federal sprint that day, sat wide, no cover and was unextended - she’ll handle it,” Olive enthused from Wednesday’s ACT TAB meeting.
“She’s such a big, gross filly, needed all that time off to develop in the joints and mature from a two-year-old.
“There were no issues keeping her out, she just needed to develop. She’s progressed from that win, done all we could ask so the timing was right for a Highway.”
Olive thought enough of Tejori as a two-year-old to bring her to Randwick in June of 2019 off a runaway ACT maiden win. She was in the market when down the track to Catwalk.
But she's a different filly now. On Saturday, the key booking of Kerrin McEvoy with 54kg returns Tejori to headquarters after she won a Canberra Class 1, 1000m with 57kg by a widening four lengths in a sizzling 57.44 from the extreme outside gate.
By comparison, established sprinters in the Benchmark 70 Federal sprint won by Whycatchim, a six-race winner, clocked 57.71.
In early TAB markets, Tejori has been well-tried from $6 into $5 with Hellenism the $4.80 favourite ahead of Tejori, Glamour Cat ($6) and $8.50 chances Ready to Humble, Cock Match and Luna Mia.
View the final fields with full form & race replays for Royal Randwick here