Oakleigh Girl Back On Track For Oakleigh Plate

Oakleigh Girl missed out on a return to racing at the Magic Millions Classic meeting due to a minor foot injury, but trainer Danny Bougoure has confirmed that the talented filly remains on track to contest the 2015 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield on February 28.

Oakleigh Girl will have the chance to record a maiden win at Group 1 level in the 2015 Oakleigh Plate. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

Oakleigh Girl will have the chance to record a maiden win at Group 1 level in the 2015 Oakleigh Plate. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

Bougoure planned on giving Oakleigh Girl a couple of race starts during the Brisbane Summer Racing Carnival and a tilt at the Magic Millions Sprint was on the agenda for the daughter of Snitzel, but she suffered from a bruised hoof and the Eagle Farm-based trainer elected to give her a couple of weeks in the spelling paddock to recover from the issue.

Oakleigh Girl has now returned to work and she is showing no ill effects from the problem and Bougoure told Sky Racing HQ that the three-year-old will likely make the trip to Melbourne in three weeks to give her plenty of time to settle ahead of the Oakleigh Plate.

“She will probably go in about three weeks,” Bougoure said.

“She has been back at the track doing plenty of work and she comes to hand pretty quickly.

“It will be all systems go for her.

“She will definitely have a run and I will probably fine tune the program for her tomorrow after she does a bit of fast work and see which way we head with her.

“She had a bruised hoof and it wasn’t much and she just missed seven to ten days work.

“We probably could have got her back to the Magic Millions, but instead of doing that we thought we would give her a couple of weeks in the paddock and really get her right for Melbourne.”

Oakleigh Girl made her racing debut with an impressive win in the Group 3 7News Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day in 2013 and she took out the Listed Calaway Gal Stakes (1010m) at Doomben before she suffered her first defeat in the Group 3 BJ McLachlan Stakes (1200m) at the same venue.

The well-bred filly returned to her best form with a close second in the $2 million Magic Millions Classic before she was sent to the spelling paddock and Bougoure elected to take the unusual step of setting her for a first-up tilt at the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m).

Oakleigh Girl led in the early stages of the Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens on April 5 before fading late to finish a credible sixth and she has not been seen at the races since she finished fifth in the Group 3 Royal Randwick Stakes (1200m) during The Championships.

It would be fitting if Oakleigh Girl was able to win the Oakleigh Plate as her sire Snitzel (2006) and dam Miss Kournikova (2006) both won the race during their racing careers.

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Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.