La Richesse could produce her best at Murray Bridge today, after overcoming a recent injury scare.
The Will Clarken-trained mare disappointed last start as favourite, finishing ninth in the $100,000 Happy Trails (1400m) Series Final at Morphettville Parks in early November.
However, Clarken says the four-year-old had a genuine excuse for her below-par performance.
“She all but broke down her last run here,” he said.
“She struck a track that was quite hard for a metro track and her joint blew up. I thought she’d chipped it, but it was just extremely bad bruising.
“So we looked after her and medicated it and got it right back. I think we dodged a bullet there.”
La Richesse is unplaced from four first-up runs, but Clarken believes the change in circumstances might lead to a different result in race eight today.
“She’s moving particularly well and we’re really happy with her,” he said.
“She’s never really performed first-up…but it’s not a traditional first-up run, so I’m hoping that might correlate to a better performance.”
Clarken is also expecting a good first-up performance from Second Slip in race four. Formerly trained in New Zealand, the four-year-old gelding has been well backed for its first-up run in Australia and Clarken expects the son of Alamosa to be around the mark.