Danny O’Brien won the Gr.1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in 2007 with New Zealand-bred Master O’Reilly and he is hoping he has another Kiwi that can add a second Caulfield Cup to his mantle on Saturday.
Reliable Man mare Inspirational Girl will be tested over 2400m for the first time this weekend and O’Brien believes it is the ideal distance for the seven-year-old.
“I am really looking forward to seeing her at a mile and a half. I think she screams out that she is a mile and a half mare,” O’Brien told RSN.
“She has got the pedigree – by Reliable Man out of a Zabeel mare.”
The Group One winner has drawn the inside barrier which will likely be a negative given the heavy track.
It will be just the second time in her 19 career starts that Inspirational Girl will compete on a heavy surface, having previously finished 14th on the surface in the Gr.1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) in April.
“She does get back, so she will just have to pick a path through them and find the best spot depending on where they are racing by the time we get to race nine on Saturday,” O’Brien said.
“I wouldn’t rule her out. In the Doncaster she just got back and couldn’t make ground and she was probably looking for 2000m-plus that day. I wasn’t disappointed in her in the track that day, it was more that she was probably in the wrong race.
“She looks like a wet tracker. She is a Reliable Man and they usually love it. She is a fine and light mare that should be able to get through it.”
Inspirational Girl has had just two lead-in runs to Saturday, finishing runner-up in the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) before seventh in the Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) last start.
“The Caulfield Cup has been her aim since the Doncaster,” O’Brien said. “She has come into the spring a pretty fit mare and we have only had to run her twice.
“She was good in the Feehan and she was good through the line in the Turnbull without much room.
“She has had a really good grounding for this and I think she will probably be suited now that she can get to a 2400m race where she doesn’t have to bustle so much early and won’t be run off her legs like she can be at a mile.”
Inspirational Girl has had a decorated career on the track to date, winning 10 of her 19 starts, including the Gr.1 Railway Stakes (1600m), Gr.3 Asian Beau Stakes (1400m), and defeating Zaaki in the Gr.2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington in autumn.
Owner Bob Peters, through bloodstock agent John Chalmers purchased Inspirational Girl out of Jamieson Park’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale for $190,000.