Well On Track

It is very easy with the aid of hindsight to question what could have been after a race is remembered more for the hard luck stories than the run of the victor.

Yet few superlatives could suffice to accurately describe the return of Denmagic after the running of the Group 3 Sheraco Stakes, a race for mares over 1200m and worthy undercard to compliment the 3YO Group 1 Golden Rose feature.

The jockey just shook his head as he reported back to the mare's trainer and hesitant connections.

"We were always going to have to go back from the barrier; but gee she came home quick" sighed Tommy Berry.

Bounding from barrier 15 and forced to settle back to avoid the perils of a wide run without cover, Berry and Denmagic bided their time in anticipation of a hot pace and with the hope of a trouble-free passage once turning for home.

True to form, Magnajoy took up the running but applied the breaks soon after the jump to have the field tightly bunched passing the 600-metre-mark, wreaking havoc on speed maps and causing a pile up worthy of the M7 motorway after a long weekend.

"They just went so slow up front mid-race" said Berry, as the trainer nodded in agreement.

"Usually a big field gives a genuine pace but they got away with a crawl so she had to switch wide and get going" explained the trainer, visually exhausted after a big day of nerves and anticipation.

But Denmagic defied the quicksand of muddled speed races to produce a stunning turn of foot that saw her come within a neck of upstaging her more fancied rivals, all of whom enjoyed closer positioning and barrier assignments.

The result will always read that Denmagic resumed with a fourth placing of fifteen in the 1200m dash, but all those who saw the race knew the mare had been the victim of just poor luck in running.

Many would say "that's racing", but for Team Pfieffer, it couldn't be more apparent that despite the unplaced effort, they had a serious racehorse to prepare for the lucrative Spring riches of Sydney and Melbourne.

"She has proven to us all that she is up to stakes level now and the plan is to get her to Melbourne; hopefully culminating with a start in the Myer Classic at Flemington" said Pfieffer.

The Myer Classic, often billed as "the" race for fillies and mares at Flemington over 1600m, would be a stunning chapter for the young trainer in a career that is yet to feature a Group 1 prize.

Registered as the Empire Rose stakes after the Melbourne Cup-winning mare, the mile event is a weight-for-age contest that rewards the winner with a $500,000 prize and spikes the interest of the breeding circles as a known producer of popular broodmare prospects in recent years.

"It was such a super run - the sectionals were the best on course and the mare was only first up. She is in for a big preparation" said Pfieffer.

"I'm keen to get her to Melbourne but it is one day at a time with these things", he added.

"She will hopefully head to the Golden Pendant, where her competition will largely be what she raced against on Saturday. Up to 1400 (metres) second-up and against her own sex again ticks all the boxes. The rest is up to her".