A LOT OF EYES WILL BE ON MACKAY ON SATURDAY

By Graham Potter | Friday, February 25, 2022

The race takes place in the provincial setting of MacKay and is only worth $25 000, but the result of the QYIS Jewel Qualifier, a Three-Year-Old Plate over 1000 on Saturday, will be of interest to a lot of people who will want to see how the unbeaten Sweet Dolly fares in her comeback outing following an eleven-an-a-half month injury enforced layoff.

The Kevin Hansen trained daughter of Real Saga has four wins from four starts to her credit.

She kicked off her career by romping home to score a runaway 5.80 length victory at Townsville on debut and two of her remaining successes were significant feature race results … when winning the $125 000 Listed Calaway Gal Stakes at Eagle Farm and the $500 000 Aquis QTIS Two-Year-Old Jewel at the Gold Coast.

In the running of the race at the Gold Coast, which took place on March 13, 2021, Sweet Dolly suffered an injury and she has not seen race action since then … which makes the Mackay run, in effect, a litmus test for what possibly lies ahead.

“It was an injury to the ligament that goes around the sesamoid,” Hansen told News Corp. “They did do a surgery, but it was a plasma treatment where they take blood and harvest the plasma and inject it back into the fibres of the horse. A lot of work went into her, it was pretty full-on.

"She hasn’t lost anything. I think she has in fact come back better and she is certainly bigger and stronger. The year off has actually matured her.”

Justin Stanley, who has partnered Sweet Dolly in all of her races to date, will once again be in the saddle after having to overcome a couple of injuries himself along the way during Sweet Dolly's time off.

Every racing enthusiast will be hopeful that Sweet Dolly can push on and live up the great potential she showed as a two-year-old, but she certainly does not owe anybody anything as she was purchased for a mere $1 500 and she has already banked a whopping $477 459 in prize money.

Should Sweet Dolly come through her Mackay assignment well, her immediate target will be the $500 000 Three-Year-Old Jewel, which will be contested the Gold Coast on March 19, with the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival very much on the radar after that.

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