A bold return by the aptly named Hope In Your Heart would provide the perfect tonic for Kerry Parker as stable darling Think It Over continues his treatment for a tendon injury.
The Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner remains at the trainer’s Kembla Grange stables, receiving daily care for the issue that has ruled him out of the spring carnival and threatens his racing career.
“I’ve still got him here at our stables and it’s just like having a child at the moment, coming back and icing him two or three times a day,” Parker said.
“It’s going as good as can be expected at this stage.”
Parker is unsure when they will be in a position to make a call on Think It Over’s racing future but says the tendon will be scanned every couple of months to assess how well it is healing.
With his stable star on the sidelines, the astute horseman is looking forward to the return of Hope In Your Heart in Saturday’s Campbelltown Catholic Club Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill.
Runner-up in the Kembla Grange Classic during the autumn, the mare was competitive against some of the best fillies of her generation, including when finishing sixth and just 2-1/2 lengths from Hinged in the Surround Stakes.
Parker plans to keep her to middle-distances this preparation but mindful of how tough the transition from three-year-old filly to four-year-old mare can be, he has set nothing in stone.
“I don’t really have anything in concrete for her. It’s always hard for those three-year-old fillies to step up into open company,” he said.
“If she can improve and step up and show she is worth targeting at something, there are lots of options there.
“It’s a pretty long spring so there is no need to be in a hurry. She will let us know where she fits in.”
Hope In Your Heart has performed well first-up in the past and while she hasn’t been given an official trial, she has had a recent exhibition gallop between races at Kembla.
Parker has her forward enough to run well, although she does face some tough competition in the form of unbeaten Chris Waller-trained mare Frumos, who is an even-money favourite.