Estriella (Image: Racing Photos)
Recommendation's wins in the final two black-type sprints in Melbourne for the season may earn him another shot at a Group 1 this spring, but for his trainer Ciaron Maher, his best is yet to come.
The Maher stable also prepares superb sprinting mare Bella Nipotina, who is being freshened for the spring off most-profitable Autumn and Winter Carnivals, as well as another younger soon-to-be mare who is set to demand Australia-wide attention when she resumes in early September.
Then filly Estriella's rapid rise last spring and autumn was tempered a little at her final run for the season when she was unplaced as favourite in the G1 Sangster Stakes (1200m) for fillies and mares in Adelaide in May.
But there is a strong belief in the stable that, as a four-year-old mare in the upcoming season, she will take that next step into the elite grade.
"She's matured and after about a month off, she has really developed," Maher's assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said.
"She's probably two or three weeks away from a jumpout. At this stage the plan is the Moir (1000m) first-up and if she performs well, hopefully she will get a slot in The Everest.
"At this stage it's Moir off two jumpouts I'd imagine. She's at Fingal (stables). She's really well. She's put on a bit of meat and her condition is really good."
The I Am Invincible filly had impressively won three races on end before going to Adelaide for the Sangster in May, where she failed to finish off from the front before winding up in fifth spot.
"She'd come to the end (of her campaign) I think," Turnbull said. "They went pretty quick, but she'd done a fantastic job.
"She'd travelled as a young three-year-old and maybe she just faltered a touch.
"It was disappointing but she's a classy mare and hopefully there's a Group 1 there for her this spring.
"Ability-wise, she's got the profile. We need a slot (in The Everest) but of our sprinting ranks with Bella (Nipotina) etc…, she's rising pretty quick."
As for Bella Nipotina, who has two wins and two placings from her past four runs at the elite level, she is taking a different path to a possible Everest start after racing through to the end of June.
"She's had a little breather and she's up at the beach in NSW and coming along nicely," Turnbull said.
The G1 Moir Stakes on September 7 is already shaping as one of the early spring highlights as Estriella, who is the early Sportsbet favourite at $4.60, is likely to run into gun gelding I Wish I Win ($5).
Despite not yet having an Everest slot, Estriella is currently rated just a $15 chance for Randwick's October feature.