A setback interrupted carnival plans for stakes-winner Arts last season, but it might have also provided the slow-maturing mare with the extra time she needed.
The rising five-year-old will kick off her latest campaign in the ATC Thank You Stable Staff Handicap (1300m) at Randwick on Saturday, her first appearance at the races since October last year.
The winner of the 2023 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at just her third start, Arts went on to run fifth in Pennyweka’s ATC Australian Oaks on a seven-day back-up, those performances coming as a pleasant surprise to trainer Ed Cummings given the daughter of Xtravagant was far from the finished product.
“She was always that little bit backward and immature. Even when she won the Adrian Knox and ran well in the Oaks, it was well before her time,” Cummings said.
“The way she has come back in and the way she has been holding her condition and been able to take a bit more work, they’re all signs that she has matured.”
Arts had just three runs last spring before succumbing to an illness that forced connections to send her back to the spelling paddock.
While it was tough to take at the time, Cummings chose to look on the bright side, knowing the extended break would give her room to furnish.
“Stepping out from three-year-old fillies’ grade to open company is always a tough challenge and she probably wasn’t quite there physically to do that,” he said.
It is a more robust version of Arts who has returned to Cummings’ stable and while her build up has been gradual, he is much happier with the mare’s work since her latest barrier trial at Hawkesbury.
He expects a few rivals to be too sharp for her over Saturday’s 1300m journey, but Cummings views the race as a nice campaign starting point.
“It’s well short of her best (distance), but she should be hitting the line well,” he said.
“She will wear the winkers first-up over a shorter trip.
“I was pretty happy with her last trial and I’ve been much happier with her since then. She’d had a genuinely long break, six or eight months, and it always takes them a bit longer to work the rust out.”
Sam Clipperton has the ride on Arts, who has drawn barrier seven.
