Star Of Michelin hits top gear for trainer Stuart Kendrick

Star Of Michelin has been his own worst enemy at times, giving away impossible starts rendering his pursuit hapless. So how did Stuart Kendrick turn him around?

Trainer Stuart Kendrick’s decision to remove blinkers from Star Of Michelin has paid huge dividends.

Stuart Kendrick has long felt Star Of Michelin would be capable of getting out over a journey and the moment of truth is getting nearer after he bounced back to winning form at the Sunshine Coast.

The four-year-old has now won five races up to a mile, but is likely headed to The Shoot Out (2200m) at Eagle Farm on January 2.

That race is a wildcard for The MM Subzero (2400m) a fortnight later and being a home bred for owner Judy Cutts, Star Of Michelin is eligible.

“I’m not sure how we will get there yet, but I’ve always wanted to try him over a bit further,” Kendrick said.

Star Of Michelin has been his own worst enemy at times, giving away impossible starts rendering his pursuit hapless. So Kendrick pulled the blinkers off on Saturday in a bid to spark something earlier in the race and apprentice Sheriden Tomlinson was able to have him box seating throughout.

An infection which delayed her return to racing has not stopped Dzsenifer adding to her winning record as a three-year-old after she prevailed over 1400m on Saturday.

Trainer Jack Duncan scratched the filly a number of weeks back from a scheduled first up run and that put him behind the eight-ball with the filly.

“We missed a few things because of that and it left her underdone for the first up run,” Duncan said.

But she showed the benefits of that to win for Sean Cormack on Sunday.

Robbie Fradd had a hard luck story on runner-up Better Lad, telling trainer Trevor Miller he went down on his nose at the start.

DOVE TAKES FLIGHT FOR KELLY

Kelly Schweida has another promising filly in his yard in the shape of Fleet Dove, who took care of a handy field in winning first up.

The daughter of Not A Single Doubt, who races in the colours of the Nolan family’s Raheen Stud, had only ever started on wet tracks, but showed she was anything but a one trick pony in clocking a sizzling 56.63 seconds for the 1000m.

“She’s a filly that just keeps improving,” Schweida said. “I was confident she would handle the dry track, but we were just worried whether she could keep up over 1000m.

“It’s good to win for the Nolan family and we will chase black type with her now. She will go to the Listed (Mode Stakes) in a fortnight.”

Winning rider Jim Byrne said Fleet Dove, who claimed the scalp of top filly Kisukano last prep, is going to be a lot better for this first up run.

“She hit the wall 100m out,” he said.

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Originally published as Star Of Michelin hits top gear for trainer Stuart Kendrick