Trainer Mick Kent has revealed that a piece of work at Sandown this morning will determine the course of action taken with Group 1 winner Abbey Marie.

Abbey Marie has only made three competitive appearances at the races so far but remains unbeaten, and was last seen delivering a smart field a comfortable defeat in the Group 1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville on May 7^th.

Having suffered a nasty elevation in temperature without a discernible issue, leading to several weeks in the paddock, Kent decided against running the Redoute’s Choice mare in two spring starts she was nominated for, including the Group 1 Myer Classic (1600m), believing that she was not ready to return.

Kent told AAP that Abbey Marie has also been contending with wet tracks in the lead-up to her return, and said that he will not be fazed if the mare returns to the paddock without a run under her belt, with a view towards major 2017 Autumn Carnival targets.

“The tracks have dried out which has helped,” Kent said.

“We’ve been awash down here at Cranbourne which has put us at a disadvantage.

“We want to come back and run her in the Orr and after that she’s in for a pretty big autumn.

“I’ll work her tomorrow then decide whether to put her in the paddock for three or four weeks or give her the run and then put her out for a couple of weeks.”

Showing plenty in work prior to her competitive debut, Abbey Marie immediately stamped herself as a filly to follow when she won the Cove Hotel Maiden Plate (1300m) at Sandown on debut, on March 23^rd.

Rated only an outsider when she lined up for the JRA BM70 (1440m) on April 23^rd, the mare out of Catshaan mustered a particularly slick turn of foot to win the race by two lengths, in what was her only other start prior to the Australasian Oaks.

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