Just Precious has announced her return in style with metropolitan success.
She captured a F&M Benchmark 78 Handicap (1110m) at Doomben on Saturday (September 11) first-up from a spell.
Starting a $7 chance, the talented mare was given a well-judged ride by apprentice Ryan Houston and proved too strong in the closing stages, rewarding connections after an encouraging lead-up to her first-up assignment.
Stable representative Bayley Kendrick said the victory came as little surprise.
“She’s very tough,” Kendrick said.
“She’s always had plenty of ability, this horse. Obviously, she showed that her second preparation,” he said.
“Things didn’t quite work out for her last time. She had a few unlucky runs, so it was good to see her come back and do that today.”
Kendrick said the stable entered Saturday’s race expecting a bold performance after strong trial and jump-out efforts.
“We were confident she’d run very well today,” he said.
“She trialled up very good, beating one of our other horses we have a bit of an opinion of, and she had a nice jump-out as well to follow that.”
Despite the win, Kendrick believes the mare is still some way short of her peak fitness and expects further improvement as she steps up in distance during the spring.
“She’s still got plenty of fitness improvement, so it’ll be good to see her when she steps up over the 1200 and 1400 to really show what she’s got.”