DEAN Mirfin has wasted no time getting his young filly Nanna Bax ready for her second career start.
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The Bathurst trainer has confidence the two-year-old Sizzling filly can bounce back in this Thursday's Wellington meeting, one a week after a tough debut on her home track where she finished at the tail of the field.
Nanna Bax ran into a high quality field on debut in the 2YO Gold Nugget. She entered the straight holding the lead but jockey Mathew Cahill effectively flicked the 'off' switch with less than 200m to run when the tempo became too much to handle.
Mirfin saw enough in the run to feel upbeat about the trip to the KFC Wellington Maiden Handicap (900 metres).
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"She's a portly little filly that requires a lot of training and a lot of racing to get herself into good condition. Her run the other day wasn't too bad. She showed a lot of speed then she weakened out later and Mathew was quite kind with her when he realised she wasn't going to contribute in the race," he said.
"She's pulled up really well so we've decided to back her up again this week. It was quite a strong race so throwing her in the deep end was quite a big ask, and while I would have liked to see her run a bit better it wasn't a total disaster. With the under her belt she should improve.
"Time is what she needs. She's only a baby and is still figuring out what it's all about. Hopefully from the good alley she can put in a better run."
Following several scratchings the only other runner Mirfin will be taking to Wellington is Supergaze.
Supergaze came up just a head shy of making it two wins from four starts during his recent run at Bathurst, finishing behind Eye Will.
"He ran well the other day. He's doing a good job in his first preparation and he looks to be well placed in that race," Mirfin said, as the Excelebration gelding targets the Wellington Soldier's Memorial Club Class 1 Handicap (1,400m).
"He's drawn well, and Mathew Cahill is back on him, and he's won with him before, so we'll go to the races confident he can run well."