The Phillip Stokes stable is confident promising three-year-old Shojiki can extend her unbeaten record to two when she steps out at Morphettville Parks tomorrow.
Adelaide foreman Tommy Stokes said the filly had progressed well since her impressive win on debut at Morphettville a fortnight back and bookmakers agree, with the filly marked a $1.95 favourite with tab.com.au.
“She still has a winter coat, but she’s come through her first run well and worked really nicely this week,” Stokes said.
“I expect her to be hard to beat; it looks a suitable race for her. She’s shown us ability all the way through.”
Galaxy Keeper will make her debut for the stable on the back of a strong Morphettville trial win last week and Stokes said the horse was another with talent.
“I’ve got a lot of time for her,” he said. “She’s probably starting to get to the end of it (campaign) now but we rate her in amongst out better ones here at the stable.
“On her ability and off her trials she looks a really good chance. In time she can be a Melbourne city-class horse.”
The stable will also saddle-up Seemingly Discreet, while Quietly Discreet resumes on the back of an impressive recent jump-out, where she ran to the line alongside Sangster Stakes winner Bella Vella.
“We’ve got quite a big opinion of her, but mentally she taken some time,” Stokes said.
“She’s also been quite open in the knees and taken time to mature (however) she’s come back bigger, better and stronger.”
Quietly Discreet resumes in a race loaded with spring hopefuls including Mileva, Pimm’s Party and Alleboom, who defeated So You Can on debut.
“It’s a pretty quick way to work out if she’s going to do something in the spring,” Stokes said.
“If she wins on Saturday we’ll have a bit of fun with her I think.”
The pair are both bred by former SAJC chairman David Peacock, with Quietly Discreet one of four Thousand Guineas nominations for the stable. Number one seed Instant Celebrity taken a significant step towards her return to the races at the Gawler trials on Friday.
She was ridden off the speed before closing smartly late behind Ef Troop.
“She’s a week behind and had a fair blow afterwards,” Stokes said.
“We sacrificed an extra week in the paddock but come the Thousand Guineas she should be spot on.
“We’ve had a lot of Prelude winners in the past, we just want to make sure everything is perfect before she heads over.
“We’ll see how she pulls up. She may not even go to Melbourne first-up, we might go to a benchmark race in Adelaide. We’ll just wait and see.”