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Put a line through Kimberley Rain’s summer preparation is the advice of co-trainer Luke Price as she starts a new campaign at Kembla Grange on Saturday.
While you can never be sure, Luke Price suspects the usually honest five-year-old didn't handle the humidity having raced into the early spring and, in hindsight, not having a long enough break before going again.
And while the IOT Employees Handicap (1000m) is a little short of her best, Price is looking for a positive start to the campaign that will hopefully see her return to Midway company.
"She didn't seem to come up at all,'' Price said.
"She was always tying up but I'm really happy with her this prep, she's had a problem free preparation so we're looking to get her back going as well as she can.
"She's probably up to Midway grade and this is a good starting point."
The five-year-old won two races on her home track last winter at 1200m and 1400m and Price, who co-trains with his father Robert, is looking for a repeat of her eye-catching third in a 790m trial earlier in the month.
"The trial was lovely and I expect her to run extremely well,'' he said.
"It looks the perfect race to start off in and if she runs up to the trial it should put her in the first three."
A horse that has won once from 26 starts has been earmarked by Price as the stable's best winning chance at Kembla, that horse is Satness and he's out to improve on his strike rate in the Melinda Griffiths Lawyers Handicap (1500m).
The gelding has also recorded 12 placings and comes off a fourth in a Benchmark 64 at Kembla over the same trip where he fought hard on the inferior ground to be beaten less than a length.
"He didn't see them coming. He was on the inside and it played to the outside that day. He does try,'' Price said.
"He just can't get his head over the line first. He drops in grade and has no weight.
"He's probably my best chance on the day, this horse is flying. His record is the only thing that lets him down but he always gets a cheque."
Among the stable's other runners, price is anticipating a handy debut from two-year-old Monte Tiana in the Lighthouse Maiden (1000m).
She hasn't appeared in a trial since October but Price revealed she has had two private jump outs.
"I do like her, I think she finds a nice race to start off in,'' he said.
"She's going to be a lot better when we get her out to 1200m and 1400m and I see her sitting midfield and attacking the line."
Meanwhile, Jamaea is about three weeks away from a trial as she prepares to make a return likely in July with the Group 2 Missile Stakes (1200m) an early target for the rising five-year-old.
