Eagle Nest (Brett Prebble) trained by Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou wins at Rosehill on November 11, 2023 – photo by Martin King/Sportpix copyright
Track conditions at Randwick will determine whether Eagle Nest takes her place in the Bob Charley AO Stakes with co-trainer Gerald Ryan cautious about keeping something in the tank for her main campaign goal.
Ryan isn’t keen to run the improving mare on a very testing surface and if conditions continue to deteriorate, she may be saved for the $150,000 Kia Ora Prague Handicap (1100m) – the feature race at the holiday Monday meeting at Canterbury.
“The idea is to get her through to the Gai Waterhouse Classic in a fortnight and I want to give her a run beforehand,” Ryan said.
“I wouldn’t like to see a bottomless track and risk bottoming her out when her main aim is to go to Queensland.
“She has been on the soft before, but a heavy track is a bit unknown.”
Either way, Eagle Nest is proving to be a progressive mare for the stable.
After working her way through the grades last campaign with a hat-trick of wins in benchmark races, she finished fourth at her first black-type test in the Listed Tattersall’s Classic (1200m) at Doomben in November.
The four-year-old resumed with two midfield efforts in Group company during the Sydney autumn carnival and in hindsight, Ryan felt he may have been too soft with her training regime.
“She is a lot stronger now than what she was, she has got stronger each preparation,” he said.
“Perhaps her first two runs, I was training her the same way when she should have been copping more work.
“Her last two runs, I’ve stepped her work up and she has been running well.”
Eagle Nest heads into Saturday’s race off a last start second to Parisal in the Hawkesbury Gold Rush (1100m) and has drawn well in barrier four with Tim Clark to ride.
She is a $10 chance in an open betting race with bookmakers marking last-start winner and wet track specialist Semillion as a $4.60 favourite, just ahead of Iowna Merc at $5.
The Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic (1200m) is restricted to fillies and mares and is at Ipswich on June 22.