Atmospherical will make her Group 1 debut at Caulfield on Saturday and trainer David Pfeiffer is confident that his star galloper can record a maiden win at the highest level of racing.

Atmospherical has the chance to record a maiden win at Group 1 level in the 2015 Oakleigh Plate. Photo by: Sarah Ebbett

Atmospherical impressed in two barrier trials ahead of the start of her 2015 Melbourne Festival Of Racing campaign and she returned to racing with a credible third behind Chautauqua in the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on February 14.

Pfeiffer told Racing Ahead this morning that he was happy with the Rubiton Stakes performance of Atmospherical and he is confident that the daughter of Northern Meteor has taken plenty of benefit from the run heading into the 2015 Oakleigh Plate.

“She was a touch keen in the early stages of the race and we anticipated that there would be more speed in the race, but as it turned out they didn’t go that hard,” Pfeiffer said.

“I thought that she fought hard to the line and running third behind Chautauqua who is one of the topline sprinters in Australia you have to be pretty happy with and most of all she has gained experience around Caulfield.

“Craig Williams has got a feel of her and I think that both horse and jockey will improve heading into this weekend’s run because Craig understands the horse a bit more and Atmospherical has improved a bit more in fitness.”

The 2015 Oakleigh Plate field will feature a capacity field of 18 sprinters and Pfeiffer is expecting there to be plenty of speed in the early stages of the Group 1 event.

Atmospherical will jump from barrier four in the Oakleigh Plate this weekend and Pfeiffer believes that Williams will have plenty of options in the early stages of the race and can position the four-year-old where he best sees fit after assessing the early tempo.

“It is a great barrier in the sense that it is a big field,” Pfeiffer said.

“We are hoping for plenty of speed and we can be where we would want to be depending on the pace of the race.

“I am pretty confident about our chances heading into Saturday.”

Atmospherical is currently available at 2015 Oakleigh Plate odds of $8.50 with Ladbrokes Australia, while Godolphin filly Earthquake ($5) is a narrow favourite from the talented Vain Queen ($6), Rubiton Stakes runner-up Flamberge ($9.50) and Robert Smerdon-trained Shamal Wind ($10).