"She's on the way back." You could hear the excitement in Canberra trainer Nick Olive's voice after his stable star Single Gaze cruised to victory in her first trial back from a horrific fall last year.
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He will make a decision on where she resumes in a race proper next week, but the $3 million Doncaster Mile (1600 metres) is emerging as her main target.
Single Gaze won the trial at Canberra's Thoroughbred Park on Friday by 1½ lengths in what Olive described as the best his four-year-old mare has ever trialled.
She'll have another trial at Canberra in a fortnight when the ACT's other star horse Fell Swoop is also likely to have a practice run as well.
It wasn't only Olive who was impressed with Single Gaze though, jockey Kathy O'Hara travelled up from Sydney for the run and she couldn't believe the improvement from the horse she rode to victory in the group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill in March.
The jockey-mare combination looked to have both been seriously injured when Single Gaze fell in the group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick last April.
While O'Hara required surgery, it could have been far worse and somehow Single Gaze walked away unharmed.
"She went absolutely awesome, the best she's ever trialled by a mile. She won the trial by 1½ lengths without being touched," Olive said.
"She came from second last on the turn and just cruised past them and won easy, it was really impressive.
"So she's on the way back, thank god ... [O'Hara] came down and trialled the horse today and she just said, 'Oh my god, I can't believe how much she's improved'."
Olive has two plans in his mind about where he'll start the daughter of Not A Single Doubt for her autumn campaign.
But he was remaining tight lipped what those options were until he's spoken to the owners.
Buoyed by the trial, Olive had his sights set firmly on the Doncaster - which his former boss Barbara Joseph became the first female trainer to win with Merimbula Bay in 1989.
"Probably next week I'll make a firm decision, I haven't 100 per cent decided," he said.
"She could go to Melbourne for a run or she could kick off in Sydney, we'll just see how she comes through this.
"She'll have another trial before she races and then go from there. Probably the Doncaster's one of the main targets and then where she goes after that is up in the air.
"There's the Coolmore [Classic] as well, there's another race during The Championships for mares too that's on the agenda."
