Encipher Winning the inaugural TAB Eureka Photo by Pacepix/Club Menangle
THE return of star mare Encipher has flown under the radar a bit this week.
The inaugural $2.1mil TAB Eureka will be a dominant favourite from gate three in the $75,000 Group 2 Ladyship Cup (1720m) at Melton on Saturday night.
It will be Encipher’s first start since finishing fifth to champion stablemate Ladies In Red in the Group 1 Queen of the Pacific at Melton back on November 4.
Just three starts back she upstaged subsequent Brisbane Inter Dominion winner Leap To Fame to take-out the TAB Eureka at Menangle on September 2.
This week’s race will also see long-time partner Kate Gath reunited with Encipher.
Gath had to surrender the drive in the TAB Eureka with her own horse, Catch A Wave, competing.
NSW superstar Luke McCarthy picked up the winning drive on Encipher in the Eureka and then kept the reins for her next two runs in the Victoria Cup (luckless ninth) and the Queen of the Pacific.
Gath has driven Encipher in 21 of her 29 starts and won 11 of those.
Encipher, now a five-year-old, has good gate speed and is drawn to use it from gate three on Saturday night.
In a race surprisingly short on class for its hefty purse, Jess Tubbs’ much-improved former Kiwi mare Rakero Rebel looks the main danger from gate two.
Rakero Rebel upstaged Ladies In Red to win the Make Mine Cullen on October 14, then proved it was no fluke with fantastic runs for third and second to Ladies In Red in the Angelique Club Cup and Queen of the Pacific at her next two runs.
She hasn’t raced since winning at Melton on November 18.
Encipher’s only public trial this campaign was a solid third, albeit of just three runners, behind Catch A Wave and Mach Dan at Melton in blistering closing splits on January 15.
Rakero Rebel went to the Geelong trials last Monday night and went slow time, beating high-class trotter Ollivici, but did zip home in 28.3sec.
