Dan and Ben Pearce are confident their undefeated two-year-old, Agent Pippa, will give a good account of herself in her race return at Ascot today.
The Demerit filly, who scored a soft victory on debut last spring as well as two impressive trial victories to date, is the current $2.00 favourite for the Corpex Consulting Supremacy Stakes (1000m).
Agent Pippa will jump from barrier five in the $100,000 feature event’s seven-horse field and will be ridden by regular hoop, Joseph Azzopardi.
The filly trialled in brilliant fashion at Belmont on March 6 when winning by one-and-a-half lengths in 59.04 seconds, the second-fastest heat of the morning behind open-class sprinter and subsequent first-up winner, New Time.
Her last campaign was ended prematurely when she was forced to be scratched from the Group Three Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) at Flemington in November after pulling up poorly from trackwork in the week leading into the race.
The Pearce brothers have set Agent Pippa for the Perth autumn feature-race series, culminating with the $500,000 Group Two Karrakatta Plate (1200m) on April 14.
Meanwhile, former Magic Millions 3YO Trophy winner, Enchanted Dream, will have her first start for more than seven months at Ascot today.
The Patronize four-year-old disappointed in two starts last winter, however, she’s since had an extended spell due to knee problems.
The mare currently holds $4.80 second-favouritism for the TabTouch Handicap (1200m) behind Belter ($3.10), with Bon Voyage ($5.00) on the third line.
Jarrad Noske is booked to take the mount aboard Enchanted Dream who will jump from barrier four in a field of 12.
Pearce-trained three-year-old, Racy Ava, will head to next month’s Group Three WA Oaks (2400m) after winning at Wednesday’s Ascot meeting by more than two lengths.