Moxie on song for Proisir Plate

[Wandering Eyes]

Group Two winner Moxie (Strasbourg) showed she is on song for next week’s Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie following her convincing trial win over 1150m at Te Awamutu on Tuesday.

The five-year-old mare took owner-trainer Ken Harrison on a great ride last season, which included victory in the Gr.2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Classic (1400m) at Ellerslie on Champions Day, and he said she has returned a more impressive animal this season.

“She seems bigger and stronger, and she is coming along nicely,” Harrison said.

Moxie made her first public appearance of the season when unplaced in a Group and Listed trial over 1100m at Taupo earlier this month. She was asked for more on Tuesday and delivered on an unsuitable Heavy8 track.

“She didn’t really like the track that much, it was a bit Heavy for her, but I am very happy,” Harrison said.

“She could have gone to Ellerslie for a gallop on Thursday instead of going to the trials yesterday, but I thought after Taupo she needed a little bit harder run than a gallop at Ellerslie.

“She is probably a little bit behind for a Group One race, but in saying that, she has had all the work that we can put into her at this stage. But another run under her belt would have been good.”

Moxie is 10^th in order of entry for the Proisir Plate, well within the 16-horse field, and Harrison said her performance in the Ellerslie feature will determine if she heads south to Hastings three weeks later for the Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m).

“It will all depend on how she goes (in the Proisir Plate) as to where we go and what we do next, but that (Howden Insurance Mile) is the plan,” he said.

“I don’t know how she will come up after a pretty good season last season, but I think she will, she looks like she is on the improve.”

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