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David Pfieffer believes he has found the perfect partner for Kingsford-Smith Cup hopeful I Am Excited in Blake Shinn.
The partnership has only been together on five occasions for three wins and a second, which Shinn still finds hard to fathom two years on. For Pfieffer, it was the final part of a journey to make his I Am Invincible mare his first group 1 winner.
“Blake just suits her. I have had other jockeys on her that have her too close and don’t trust her,” Pfieffer said. “Every time Blake is on her, he gets her in the right spot and we have seen the results.
“In the Victory Stakes last time, I so confident a long way from home, even though she was back in the field, because I could see Blake had her going sweetly. She travels better for him than anyone else. That’s what you get when you have a really top jockey.”
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I Am Excited appreciated the pressure in the Victory Stakes and charged over the top of dual Everest winner Redzel for her biggest win. Another success on Saturday at Eagle Farm would have the explosive mare in Everest considerations herself.
Shinn knows there there is only one way to ride I Am Excited: let her find her feet and have her ready to hit her top in the straight. It is the reason Pfieffer didn’t run in the Doomben 10,000.
“She needs that little bit of time to get going, and the tight track wouldn’t suit her,” Pfieffer said. “We decided before we came up here that she would only run at Eagle Farm, and this is the race we targeted.”
Shinn was impressed the first time he rode I Am Excited in trackwork and still finds it hard to work out how Jorda beat her down the Flemington straight during the 2017 Melbourne Cup carnival.
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“She has group 1 acceleration,” Shinn said. “I rode her work before that race and thought she was special. I still can’t work out how she got beaten that day.
“The most important thing with her is you can’t use her early in the race because she loses her acceleration, which is her biggest weapon, along with the ability to hold a long sprint.”
Shinn admits the capacity field in the Kingsford-Smith Cup could pose problems for I Am Excited given her racing style.
“I know where I’m going to be, so traffic is always a concern,” Shinn said. "She just need to get a run at the right time to let rip."
I Am Excited is one of three horses under double-figures quotes in the open group 1 at $9. Godolphin sprinter Trekking is the $6.50 favourite and Doomben 10,000 winner The Bostonian is at $8.