Trainer Robert Smerdon is confident the conditions of Saturday’s Listed Winter Championship Final (1600m) at Flemington should prove ideal for talented mare Iggimacool.

Iggimacool is likely to take her place in the field for Saturday’s Winter Championship Series Final at Flemington. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos

Iggimacool began her racing career under the guidance of Bill Ryan in her native Tasmania in 2013, but has undoubtedly stepped up in class since arriving on the mainland and the care of Smerdon in 2015.

Having savaged the line for a comfortable win in the Central Region Handicap (1400m) at Flemington last time out on June 25^th, Smerdon is confident a step up to a mile and the benefits of a start in the Winter Championship Final for a mare underline the feature race as the ideal next step for Iggimacool this weekend, rather than an appearance in the Listed Leilani Series Final on the same card.

“I think she is looking for the 1600m and she would get a lot of weight in the mares, she is entered in both but the leaning is to the Winter Championship Final with Dwayne Dunn to replace Ben Thompson as it is a non-claiming race,” Smerdon said.

Claiming a total of eight wins and seven minors through a career total of twenty-eight starts, Iggimacool is a multiple stakes winner, having taken out each of the Listed Tasmanian Oaks (2100m) and Listed Tasmanian Stakes (1600m) most notably in her time under the care of Ryan.

Debuting for Smerdon for sixth in The Thurgood Family Plate (1200m) on July 4^th last year, the Savoire Vivre mare ran second in a pair of Caulfield minors over 1200m and a mile respectively before placing second in the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m).

Returning to winning form in the Spring Is The Season Handicap (1700m) at Flemington on September 12^th, Iggimacool failed to make anything of an impact through her next two starts and was subsequently returned to the paddock, with a view towards her current preparation.

Clearly requiring a run when resuming this time for twelfth in the Listed Straight Six (1200m) on May 21^st, the mare out of Hidden Moment ran on for a credible seventh in the Rod Johnson Handicap (1400m) on June 11^th, in what was her only other start prior to her last-start triumph.

The 2016 Winter Championship Final field and barrier draw is due to be completed and released by midday, Wednesday (July 6^th).