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Comeback mare The Map launches spring campaign in Leon Macdonald Stakes at Morphettville
Murray Bridge trainers Dan Clarken and Oopy MacGillivray are plotting a return to Melbourne's spring carnival with staying mare The Map, who launches a comeback in Saturday's Listed Leon Macdonald Stakes at Morphettville. The Map, South Australia’s recent Melbourne Cup representative, finished 21st in the famous race last year, before two unplaced runs in February saw the Group 3 winner retired, aborting a planned Adelaide Cup run the following month. Clarken and MacGillivray concluded that the breeding barn beckoned for The Map, but she was passed in at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in May, missing a reserve of $200,000. The pair used it as an opportunity to reset, and reassess their plans with the nine-time race winner. “If someone had really wanted to take her on as a broodmare, it was the time to sell her, but having crossed that bridge … I suppose it was just a reset moment,â€� MacGillivray said. “We always had a reserve on her of $200,000 and said ‘if she doesn’t make that, she comes home and we reassess’. “She had a good three months off, she’s worked back up, had plenty of leg work, a bit of green grass and a change in the drought conditions have made her and us feel a little bit better about everything â€' she’s just terrific.â€� The Map & @LNeindorf certainly knew the direction to the line in the JRA Plate ðŸ'Œ — (@Racing) February 10, 2024 The daughter of Alpine Eagle, now a seven-year-old, has had a Murray Bridge trial and jumpout in the lead-up to Saturday’s 1400m assignment. “She was very bright and bubbly, she’s doing everything we’d expect her to do, we just gave her the extra jumpout (Monday), occasionally she just jumps a bit slow, especially if she’s a bit fresh. She’s right where we need her,â€� she said. “We’ve got our own sand track up a hill out the back of our place, she’s been enjoying using that, she seems in a good space â€' I suppose we are about to find out. “If she jumps well, puts herself there and finishes off, I’d like to see her finish in the first half. That really lets us think positively about where we are heading to next, as long as she comes through it well, and every indication is that she will.â€� The Map is a $41 chance with Sportsbet, and will be ridden by Emily Finnegan. The comeback mare will likely head to Victoria as she steps out in trip. Clarken and MacGillivray have the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes and Melbourne Cup qualifier, Group 3 The Bart Cummings, earmarked as possible target races. “(Makybe Diva) is obviously going to be pretty hot company, there’s also a 1700m handicap at Flemington that day (September 13), that’s probably the next step in her campaign to see where she’s at,â€� MacGillivray said. “We’ll definitely still nominate for the (Melbourne) Cup, it’s not off the radar, but in the back of our minds we might be heading into a Bart Cummings or something like that, we’ll keep her at Flemington where she’s happy and see what comes up.â€� • New home for 2026 Cox Plate confirmed While a stable stalwart returns, Group 3-winning juvenile, Steel Trap, has left the Clarken and MacGillivray yard, the King’s Legacy filly was sold privately to Yulong earlier this month. “She’s a terrific filly … we had high hopes, a Thousand Guineas (run) in the not too distant future, but we are also realists,â€� she said. “We love where we live, but Adelaide is not the place to have progressive young horses at the moment, you’ve got to be realistic, how easy is it to get her back and forth across the border to do what she needed to do? “We don’t look back, no regrets, I’ll be proud and excited to see her perform on the big stage and I hope she goes well for the connections.â€� Talented gelding, A Samurai Mind, has also moved on, transferring to the care of Cranbourne trainer Grahamme Begg. “We just felt it was very hard to get any consistency in his racing here. He was at a rating level where you were trying to run him with three to five weeks between runs all the time, which doesn’t make it very easy to train them when you’ve got them fit and ready to race,â€� she said. “In conjunction with James Jordan (owner-breeder), we just felt it was in his best interests to go to Victoria where he can be placed accordingly and get the runs where he needs the runs.â€� The Map’s full sister, On The Map, will also make her debut for the stable in a Maiden Plate (1250m) at Morphettville on Saturday.
