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It’s no coincidence that consistent mare Margie Bee produces her best on the state’s tighter tracks and trainer Kristen Buchanan hopes a short break and a return to a compact circuit like Gosford can do the trick.
The six-year-old rarely puts in a below par effort and, while a couple of her early wins were at Newcastle and Kembla, for the most part when she does it's on a large track like Randwick which was the case at her last appearance as she faded to beaten almost six lengths in an 1800m Midway a month ago.
That run was a week after a bold front-running display to be runner-up to So Wicked also at Randwick but Buchanan said Wednesday's XXXX Handicap (1600m) is an ideal race to re-emerge in.
"She's free running and a very genuine front runner so the shorter straights make it harder for others to pick her up,'' Buchanan said.
"She's had a couple of weeks out so she might be a bit soft still but that aside if she put in an average effort we'd spell her.
"She's not going to the breeding barn, she's modestly bred so we're not in any rush to retire her."
Buchanan says Margie Bee, $10 with TAB on Tuesday, may not have backed up as well as she'd hoped with the seven day turnaround into her last run but she has previously backed up without an issue.
With the 3kg claim for apprentice Ellen Hennessy, Margie Bee will carry 56.5kg so Buchanan said she'll get every chance to bounce back to her best.
"I think she went a bit hard, they weren't far outside the record and it was pretty a solid run,'' she said.
"She has backed up in the past but she's had a number of big runs this preparation. I think she will run a huge race on Wednesday."
The Wyong trainer is enjoying a purple patch of form lately and the past week has produced a winner at Muswellbrook on Thursday with Delexo, a double at her home track on Friday with Fumiko and Eyewitness and Saturday's Midway with Casino Mondial.
She says it's a reflection of the team of people and horses around her and some good placement.
Fumiko, one of her impressive Wyong winners, is a horse Buchanan is excited about for the future but she's planning to race the three-year-old filly sparingly in the short term as she develops.
"There's another race at Wyong for her but I'm looking at some of the three-year-old graduation races that are coming up on the calendar,'' she said.
"She's come through the race really well. She's a lovely filly but she's lightly framed so we will take our time with her and space her runs so it doesn't knock her around too much."
