Pride of Jenni has changed racing. Now her rivals need to catch up

Pride Of Jenni has changed racing at the top level with her daring all-the-way Queen Elizabeth Stakes victory. She won’t change, but her rivals must if they want to catch her.

Opposition trainers will have six months to work out a way of challenging the mare with her next target the King Charles Stakes on Everest day at Randwick on October 19, before a date with the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

Pride Of Jenni has a huge margin and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in her keeping on Saturday.

“I would love to say hi to [King] Charlie if he is there,” owner Tony Ottobre said. “Jenni will put on a show for him.

“That was amazing [in the Queen Elizabeth]. We never imagined that she could do something like that, and she isn’t finished yet. We want to race her another couple of years.

“I think with every run she is getting better … the team is understanding her better and not putting limits on her.”

The six-year-old mare’s bold style of going hard early over 2000m is a break from tradition, but it should not have caught her rivals off guard at Randwick on Saturday.

Pride Of Jenni’s best 600m sections are run in the first 1200m of races, as opposed to the norm where winners’ last 600m sections are usually their best.

She was ridden in the same style in winning the group 1 Empire Rose Stakes and Champions Mile in the spring, where she was also allowed to get too far in front to be run down.

James McDonald, who rode runner-up Via Sistina in the Queen Elizabeth, called it “embarrassing” that the field let Pride of Jenni open up a 100m lead on Saturday. Here is how the mare broke the hearts of her rivals in one of the greatest wins seen at Randwick in 190 years.

Start to 1600m turn into the back straight

Pride Of Jenni’s jockey Declan Bates doesn’t rush to get to the front from the barriers. The first 400m is about relaxing her and getting into a rhythm before accelerating. The first acceleration came after 300m when Pride Of Jenni felt Mr Brightside on her hindquarters. Bates went with her but in a controlled manner.

The 1600 to 1200m mark

This is where Pride of Jenni’s sustained speed starts to have its effect. She widened her lead to more than 20 lengths. The other jockeys were looking for someone else to take them into the race and are chasing a runaway train.

The 1200 to 800m mark

Bates’ plan was for Pride Of Jenni to increase the pressure from the 1000m mark, so it was the next 200m where she opened her biggest advantage – 100m which equates to 33 lengths – a margin that was impossible to bridge.

Declan Bates celebrates Pride of Jenni’s astounding Queen Elizabeth Stakes win.

The 800m to 400m mark and the home turn

This is where Pride Of Jenni went from domination to survival mode. Her fastest sections are behind her by the 600m mark. The margin is still 23 lengths on the home turn and although Pride Of Jenni has slowed, she still has the strength to keep running respectable splits.

The 400m to winning post

The Randwick crowd, in awe of Pride Of Jenni’s first 1200m, begins to roar – not for her to go faster but just to find the line. The difference between the final 400m of Pride Of Jenni and Via Sistina is nearly three seconds, but the winning margin was 6¼ lengths or just over a second.

Pride Of Jenni ran the first six 200m sectionals faster than Via Sistina, who was 4.51 seconds quicker for the final 800m, but by then the damage had been done.

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