My Yankee Girl was controversially stripped of a dead-heat win last start, but the Salanitri stable is confident they have the formula to see her atone at Sandown this Saturday.
The four-year-old daughter of American Pharoah steps out to 1400 metres for the first time this preparation in the $130,000 Paul Quill Handicap.
It will be her first outing since she hit the line locked together with Invincible Caviar over 1200 metres at Flemington, only to be relegated to second position owing to stewards’ protest after jockey Blake Shinn was found to have severely breached the whip rule.
“We’re really happy with the way she’s come through that run,” Frank Salanitri, brother and racing manager of My Yankee Girl’s trainer John Salanitri, said.
“The 1400 will suit her now with those two 1200-metre races under her belt and she sems well suited in this race.”
Melbourne leading jockey Jamie Kah replaces Blake Shinn, who is still serving a suspension incurred aboard My Yankee Girl at Flemington, and they will jump from barrier five in a nine-horse field that includes last-start city winners Worsfold and He’s Exceptional.
“The Hillside track will suit her and I’m happy with barrier five because I like her to be just a little bit off them,” Salanirti said.
“I don’t like her being inside horses, she can get a little bit on the bridle which unsettles everything, so hopefully Jamie will just have her in her comfort zone and finishing off.”
Salanitri said, regardless of Saturday’s result, the plan was to give My Yankee Girl a let-up and target some of the many lower-level Black Type races for mares in autumn.
“It’s probably going to be perfect timing where John can back off her after this run and give her the chance to have a half a break but keep that fitness level there and then target some Group 3s,” Salanitri said.
“There’s the Wenona Girl (in Sydney), a race we ran second in with I Love It, the Proud Miss (in Adelaide) and even Brisbane. There are plenty of nice races for a horse like her.”