Secret Admirer freshened for Myer task

Thursday 1 November 2012, 3:28pm

Grahame Begg is confident Secret Admirer has regained the necessary freshness to overcome a significant drop in distance from the Caulfield Cup to the Myer Classic.

Secret Admirer ventured to uncharted territory in the Caulfield Cup (2400m) last start but reverts to 1600 metres in the Myer, the distance at which she has won her two Group One races.

Begg has had two weeks to get Secret Admirer ready for the fillies and mares contest at Flemington and has been taken by how well the mare has freshened up since her 11th at Caulfield.

"I thought she might have taken a bit of harm out of the Caulfield Cup and might have lost a bit of weight but quite the contrary," Begg said.

"It has probably toughened her up if anything.

"She's in good shape and has freshened up nicely."

Begg said he had done very little with the 2011 Epsom Handicap winner since the Caulfield Cup but was pleased with the five-year-old's short hitout at Flemington on Tuesday.

"I've kept her nice and fresh and she just dashed up 400 metres on Tuesday morning and worked very well," the trainer said.

"We're very happy with her condition.

"She has drawn barrier two which is good and I'm sure she'll run very well."

Begg had kept his options open with Secret Admirer this spring with the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate both options as the mare progressed through her campaign.

The trainer said there were also a number of options for her after the Caulfield Cup, starting with the Myer Classic against her own sex.

"That's the good thing about the Flemington carnival, there is so many options there over the four days," Begg said.

"With her, she's going to be nominated for the Emirates Stakes and if we are happy with her she might run in the Emirates as well."

Begg is no stranger to big-race success during the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington. He prepared Bonanova to win the Myer in 1998 when it was still a Group Two race.

Bonanova won the Group One Emirates Stakes the following year while Our Egyptian Raine took out a Group Two weight-for-age sprint down the straight during the 2003 Cup carnival.

More recently, All Silent won Group Ones in back-to-back years with victory in the Emirates Stakes (1600m) in 2008 before returning to win the 2009 Patinack Farm Classic (1200m).

– AAP

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