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| Staff Writer |
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Bel Merci put herself firmly back in the Gr.2 Silver Slipper Stakes picture with an eye-catching trial success at Kembla Grange, leading trainer John Thompson to secure the services of in-form jockey Zac Lloyd for next Saturday's contest.
The brilliant Gimcrack Stakes winner had drifted in Gr.1 Golden Slipper calculations after laying in during a trial behind North England last week, but showed her true colours on Monday with Lloyd in the saddle.
The change of pilot comes after Chad Schofield picked up a careless riding suspension at Royal Randwick last Saturday.
"We had to get somebody else, and Zac was good enough to go down and trial her to get a feel for her," Thompson said. "He's going to ride her in the race and they go on well."
Thompson believes the filly's previous uncharacteristic display could be attributed to her first trip away from home. "It was a shock at Rosehill," Thompson said. "I think it shocked Chad more than anyone because she is so straightforward.
"We wanted to give her a second trip away to tick that box and she was fantastic. She pulled up well."
Meanwhile, Thompson is considering running stablemate Melanite in Saturday's Pierro Plate at Royal Randwick. The 2YO, who finished fifth in the Gr.3 Canonbury Stakes, is showing significant improvement.
"Melanite has improved out of sight," Thompson reported. "He had the one soft trial and it was nearly a month until he ran but he raced a bit fresh. He had to work a bit in the first half of the race, stuck wide and had to work forward outside the leader but just got tired."
Thompson will make a final decision after acceptances, with Golden Slipper favourite Wodeton and unbeaten colts Pallaton and Comedy among the nominations for the 1100m contest.