She can stay a lot better than she can sprint
- Trainer Dick Eaves
Thoroughbred trainers John Blacker and Leon Laskey have good winning chances at Elwick on Sunday but their first target this weekend will be a harness race at Mowbray.
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Blacker and Laskey are in a 16-member syndicate that races top pacing filly El Jays Mystery, one of two key runners in Friday night’s $40,000 Bandbox Stakes final.
The Dick Eaves-trained El Jays Mystery narrowly beat Playing Arkabella in the prelude 12 days ago and they are expected to fight out the finish again.
Playing Arkabella has the better of the barrier draw this week but Eaves will be relying on his filly’s staying power to prevail at the finish.
“She can stay a lot better than she can sprint,” Eaves said shortly before El Jays Mystery ran second to Victorian visitor Shartin in the Tasmanian Oaks.
That asset was evident again in the Bandbox Prelude when El Jays Mystery gave Playing Arkabella a start but wore her down in the last few strides.
El Jays Mystery is a half sister to Barynya, who Eaves trained to win the Tasmanian and Victorian Oaks in 2014.
She is yet to reach the same heights as her sibling but does have a consistent record, with three wins and nine placings from her 14 starts.
If the final does turn out to be a two-horse race, as early betting suggests, it could come down to a battle of tactics between two of the state’s premier drivers.
Rohan Hillier, who has been in red-hot form, will be on Playing Arkabelle and Ricky Duggan, a big-race specialist, will handle El Jays Mystery.
Both are past winners of the Bandbox, Duggan scoring on Helluva Girl (1994), Maggie Kennedy (2010) and Blissfull Grace (2012) and Hillier successful on Flo Jo Fernandez (2001) and Nola Mayhem (2013).
The Globe Derby Stakes final is the other $40,000 feature on Friday night’s program and sees three horses dominating the betting – Rocknroll Turbo, Harjeet and Usain Jolt.
Such is the depth of the field that several other very promising horses are at long odds.