Imported mare Lighthouse faces her sternest test on Saturday when she steps up to stakes level at Flemington.
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained mare runs in the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes (1400m) looking to stretch her unbeaten sequence in Australia to four.
But Lighthouse will meet new conditions on Saturday, a hot summer’s day that has result in the start of the meeting being brought forward in a bid to beat the hottest part of the day later in the afternoon.
Lighthouse won at her Australian debut in bleak conditions at Kyneton in November before scoring on a soft track at Ballarat and then on good ground at Flemington on December 11.
“She’s raced in warm weather but not really hot weather, so we’ll have to see how she handles that,” Eustace said.
“The way it has worked out, it’s still going to be pretty hot when she does race. The latter races probably do suffer from it being brought forward a bit, but it’s still a sensible thing to do.”
Lighthouse was sent from the US to try and win ‘black type’ races and having seen the mare under race conditions Eustace believes she is capable of achieving that.
“I would be surprised if it wasn’t on Saturday, it wasn’t at some time during the autumn,” Eustace said.
“We’re hopeful she can repeat her last win. She’s shown she’s effective on top of the ground and I’m sure (track manager) Liam (O’Keeffe) will put plenty of water on as it’s going to be pretty warm.”
Lighthouse spends the majority of her time at the stable’s Fingal property on the Mornington Peninsula and was taken to Cranbourne on Tuesday for a gallop.
He said if Lighthouse retains her form, then she should be right in the mix on Saturday.
Maher and Eustace also have Yulong January contesting Saturday’s race, coming off a fading first-up seventh in the VOBIS Gold Bullion at Pakenham on December 4.
Eustace is expecting improvement on Saturday with further improvement to come from the outing.