Ciaron Maher confident Pride Of Jenni will be ready for Cox Plate after rest and recovery

Ciaron Maher says the early signs are positive Pride Of Jenni will back-up in the Cox Plate after her brave second in the King Charles III Stakes last Saturday.

Ciaron Maher knows he is asking a lot of his iron mare Pride of Jenni, but he is confident she can produce another peak performance on Saturday after a meticulous recovery plan following last week’s brave second in the King Charles III Stakes.

Pride Of Jenni will arrive back in Melbourne on Thursday morning after resting up and getting her first experience in a hyperbaric chamber at Maher’s Bong Bong facilities in the NSW Southern Highlands.

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He said the early indications were that the frontrunning seven-year-old had come through the run well and was ready to rumble with long-time rival Mr Brightside in the $5m Cox Plate, as well as international raider Prognosis, classy mare Via Sistina and new kid on the block Broadsiding.

“It’s all about recovery now,” Maher said at Breakfast With The Best on Tuesday morning.

“She seems to have come through the (King Charles) run pretty well … There is nothing I have seen that would suggest that she wouldn’t back-up.

“I followed her down to the swabbing box and post her run on Saturday (when second to Ceolwulf) just to see how she was.

“There was a very well thought-out plan about what we were doing with her straight after the race, so far it all seems on track.”

Pride Of Jenni (left) is set to back-up in the Cox Plate after her brave second to Ceolwulf in the King Charles III Stakes last Saturday. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

• Jenni’s owner defends right to query rival’s tactics

Pride Of Jenni will have her fifth run this preparation on Saturday, but Maher said the rest and recuperation she has experienced at Bong Bong will stand her in good stead.

“She went down to Bong Bong, she’s been in the spa and in the paddock for a couple of days,” he said.

“She hadn’t been in it (hyperbaric chamber) before. She was a little bit nervous when she got in, but she settled in over the last couple of days.

“It aids everything really, any soft tissue issues.

“It is a tough enough ask (backing up after a tough run off an interstate trip), but if any horse can do it, I think she can. The way she came out of the race … I haven’t seen anything that is going to deter her.”

• Cummings keeps Broadsiding’s Cox Plate tactics secret

The mare’s owner Tony Ottobre took a complaint to the stewards following last week’s race and said this week there might need to be a Plan B if things don’t go to script for her.

But Maher said he wasn’t worried about any tactics that could be used against his mare, insisting she will take up her normal freewheeling “catch-me-if-you-can” style.

“She will do her normal thing … I’m not too concerned,” he said.

“I don’t think the tactics on the weekend really affected her. I thought the winner (Ceolwulf) was very good. I thought she (Pride Of Jenni) was great.”

Originally published as Ciaron Maher confident Pride Of Jenni will be ready for Cox Plate after rest and recovery