Most racing fans have been eagerly anticipating Pride Of Jenni’s return since her head-spinning Queen Elizabeth Stakes win, but Declan Bates has spent much of the time in the interim directing his attention elsewhere.
The regular rider for the mare who has risen to become one of the most popular horses in the country was determined to occupy his time with more immediate concerns and not look too far into the horizon.
In the past four months, the Irishman has had a screw removed from his knee, recuperated in Bali with his family and visited his brother in New Zealand, before resuming the hard-working schedule he has undertaken in previous years in the second half of winter.
But now, just days out from the Memsie Stakes, Bates has afforded himself the chance to get excited about reuniting with Pride Of Jenni on raceday.
“I had a good break in the winter, a month off, and now the last six weeks I’ve just been focussing on getting myself sorted and ready for the spring,” Bates said between races at Seymour on Tuesday.
“Not just on her, but focussing on getting myself fit and trying to get on the right horses all round.
“I’ve just been taking each week as it comes, focussing on riding winners wherever that is, but now we’re at the week of the race it is starting to get exciting.”
Pride Of Jenni will resume a career that now has her the highest-rated horse in the country in Saturday’s Group 1 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield.
The $750,000 event could be the first time that Pride Of Jenni starts favourite in a race under Bates, who has ridden the Ciaron Maher-trained mare at 10 of her 29 starts including her past seven outings.
She is not only $2 favourite for the Memsie Stakes, but heads betting on the $5m King Charles III Stakes (October 19), $5m Cox Plate (October 26) and both the Champions Mile and Champions Stakes at Flemington on November 9.
They are races Bates, 36, dreamt of being a key player in when he emigrated to Australia in 2015 and while it would be understandable if he felt the pressure, the experience of five years ago has him at ease.
In some way, what he went through with Begood Toya Mother ahead of the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes caused many more nerves than what he is facing this year.
Then, the one-time battling jumps jockey had virtually no Group 1 experience, let alone aboard a favourite, had to waste hard to get down to 52kg and did not know if he would get a better chance to announce himself on the big stage.
Bates and the Daniel Bowman-trained Begood Toya Mother capped an unforgettable eight-start campaign with a dominant win in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, which like the Memsie Stakes is a 1400m event at Caulfield.
“It was a good experience for me to have that build up to a big race on a favourite and at the time it gave me confidence in myself,” Bates said.
“I took a lot of self-belief out of it in that all I felt I needed was the opportunity on the right horse and he was my first time riding a favourite in a Group 1.
“Ever since that, every time I’ve had an opportunity on a good horse I’ve had confidence in myself and you do need that self-belief.”
Bates has lifted his Group 1 tally to four via Pride Of Jenni, on whom he also won the $4m All-Star Mile in March this year.
The seven-year-old has had three Cranbourne jumpouts in preparation for her return, a couple of low-key hitouts either side of a trademark dominant all-the-way win on August 5.
“She’s maturing the whole time each prep, especially since she’s been with Ciaron, and she seems to be more mentally mature and, physically, just getting stronger,” Bates said.
“I’m not saying she’s improving from last prep, but she certainly doesn’t feel like she’s taken a backward step and if that’s the case then she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Pride Of Jenni will have seven rivals to contend with in the Memsie Stakes, Victoria’s first Group 1 of the season, in which she has drawn barrier seven.