Jolie's Shinju & Kirklees

THE AGE
Andrew Eddie
Sept 27

THERE may be no international attempt at next month's Cox Plate after a change of mind from the Godolphin stable and an inglorious effort from Singapore's champion mare Jolie's Shinju in Friday night's JRA Cup at Moonee Valley.

Connections of Jolie's Shinju must produce an ECG certificate before she is permitted to race again after she was found to have had a heart irregularity and suffering a cardiac ailment known as the ''thumps'' after she was beaten more than 16 lengths as the $4.80 favourite when second-last over the 2040-metre trip.

The mare's jockey, Ronnie Stewart, told stewards he could offer no excuse for her failure, other than the fact she may not have handled the slow conditions. As expected, Jolie's Shinju led the race and seemed to travel kindly until just inside the 800-metre mark before fading.

It was the first slow track the Singapore Derby winner had seen and the race was conducted in sloppy conditions, being the last of eight races.

Jolie's Shinju, who debuted in this country in fine style with a third place in the group 2 Dato' Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley earlier this month, had recovered from the run by yesterday morning and connections are considering running her again in the next two weeks before making a decision on the Cox Plate.

She could start in either the group 1 Yalumba Stakes (2000 metres) at weight-for-age at Caulfield on October 10 or drop back to the 1600 metres of the group 1 Toorak Handicap on the same day.

The news on Jolie's Shinju followed an announcement from the Godolphin stable that the well-respected six-year-old Kirklees, who was one of two Godolphin horses to arrive in Melbourne early yesterday, might bypass the Cox Plate and instead run a week earlier in the Caulfield Cup.

Kirklees, a last-start winner over the Caulfield Cup distance at Kempton in England earlier this month, is sixth in order to gain a Caulfield Cup run with 56 kilograms. It is expected high-profile stable rider Frankie Dettori, who is yet to claim a feature over the Melbourne spring carnival, will partner him this spring.

Godolphin won last year's Caulfield Cup with All The Good.

Touching down with Kirklees was seven-year-old stablemate Crime Scene, who is 24th in line for a Caulfield Cup run, but connections might decide to go to the Melbourne Cup via the Geelong Cup instead.