Ipswich test crucial for Isti Star

By Glenn Davis

Trainer Paul Shailer’s promising filly Isti Star could return to the spelling paddock following her run at Ipswich on Wednesday.

Shailer fears Isti Star may not have fully recovered from a bout of pneumonia she picked up last year and will be guided by her performance in the Benchmark 78 Handicap over 1100 metres.

The three-year-old daughter of Better Than Ready won the Magic Millions National 2YO Classic over 1200 metres at the Gold Coast in May last year and then finished second in the Listed Oxlade Stakes at Eagle Farm the following month.

She looked destined for better things before she was floored by a bout of pneumonia.

Isti Star was placed first-up in a 1000 metre Class 3 Plate at Eagle Farm in early April but disappointed last start, beating one home in the Listed Mick Dittman Plate on a heavy Eagle Farm track.

“She had six months off after she contracted pneumonia, so there was always a question mark about how she would return,” Shailer said.

“That’s why we’ve dropped her back in grade from stakes races to a metropolitan midweek.

“She’ll race at Ipswich and if she fails again, she could go to the spelling paddock again. But, if she races well, we’ll make a decision then about where she’ll head too next.”

Shailer believed Isti Star was on track for the QTIS Jewel Final at the Gold Coast in March following a barrier trial win at Beaudesert in February.

However, she did not fire in her first start back from a long break and finished ninth to the Pat Webster-trained Dr Farthing in the QTIS Jewel Prelude at Eagle Farm later that month.

“She looked like being a very good two-year-old after she won the Magic Millions National Classic, but the pneumonia knocked her around a bit,” Shailer said.

“I was hoping to get her ready for the QTIS Jewel Final, but she didn’t come up as we had hoped.

“She’s not as good as she once was at the moment, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be.”

Isti Star’s win in the Magic Millions National 2YO Classic gave Shailer his greatest victory of his training career.

His other big win came from stablemate Toorak Jewel in the $500,000 The Debut at the Gold Coast in January.

The QTIS Jewel was also in the frame for Toorak Jewel, who was a $36,000 buy as a yearling.

However, she too was sent to the paddock after Shailer wasn’t happy with her work.

“Toorak Jewel is about four weeks from returning to work,” Shailer said.

“We had some x-rays taken before she went out so we decided to give her more time in the paddock so she could develop more."