13/05/2026
Here's an interesting article from Daniel O'Sullivan: There is a lot to learn from studying Pride Of Jenni’s races, not just in terms of her own performances, but in how her racing style impacts the entire field.
It is not as simple as saying she wins when she travels at her ideal speed and loses when she goes too fast or too slow. Her two most recent wins prior to Saturday’s Hollindale Stakes came off moderate tempos by her standards, while there have also been races where she has gone extremely fast and still won or finished a close second.
Like all elite athletes, she has good and bad days, peaks and troughs. But what consistently makes her races unique is the tactical pressure she places on her rivals.
🧠 The Tactical Dilemma
Much of the more recent discussion around Pride Of Jenni and how her races unfold focuses on how far she is “allowed” to get ahead and whether rivals should pressure her earlier.
The key point often missed in this discussion is not necessarily the effect on Pride Of Jenni herself, but the impact her racing pattern has on the efficiency of those chasing behind her.
The further she gets ahead, particularly when not travelling at an excessively fast speed, the more difficult it becomes for others to optimise their energy distribution and maximise their overall time potential.
Let’s look at the Hollindale Stakes on Saturday for an example of why that matters:
At the 1200m mark:
➡️ The nearest chaser, Golden Path, was already 7 lengths behind
➡️ Birdman was 10.6 lengths back
With that margin established by Pride Of Jenni without going excessively fast, Declan Bates then took the momentum initiative and increased the speed further approaching the 1200m mark. In many respects, that was where the race was won.
From the 1200m to the 1000m:
➡️ The margin to Golden Path extended from 7 lengths to 9.6 lengths
➡️ Birdman drifted from 10.6 lengths to 13.9 lengths back
That stretching effect is much like traffic accelerating away from lights. The leader builds momentum first, while those behind take time to react and build the same speed.
By the time they respond, the gap has widened and, in a racing sense, the damage is often already done.
⏱️ The Key Role of Those at the Front of the Chasing Pack
The riders at the front of the chasing pack play a critical role in how Pride Of Jenni’s races unfold.
Those behind the pack leaders are usually maintaining positions with cover rather than improving forward in the middle stages, which is logical from a traditional racing perspective, but it also leaves them heavily dependent on decisions made ahead of them.
The uncertainty faced by the riders at the front of the chasing pack is not easy to resolve:
➡️ Do they spend more energy trying to close the gap?
➡️ Or trust that Pride Of Jenni will weaken late?
That requires a judgement about:
➡️ How fast they are travelling
➡️ How their own horse is coping with that speed
➡️ How Pride Of Jenni may be coping herself
It is a difficult balance to get right, and we have seen many examples of that over time.
In the 2025 Empire Rose Stakes, Pride Of Jenni travelled only +5.9 lengths above standard to the 800m mark, yet the nearest chasers still allowed her to establish a margin of more than nine lengths. It is no surprise she went on to win by 4.5 lengths.
In many cases, horses further back in the field end up travelling slower through the early and middle stages than they have previously shown themselves capable of, yet are still much further back in lengths from the leader.
That creates an inefficient use of energy.
Birdman was a good example on Saturday. He travelled -0.7 lengths below standard to the 800m mark, slower than in several of his previous races, yet was 13.9 lengths off the lead, more than double his median position back from the lead at that stage from 16 prior Australian runs.
That is not a setup that optimises a horse’s fastest possible overall time.
If a horse is capable of running fast overall time, the data consistently shows that it is best achieved through a more even energy distribution across the race, and especially going faster in the early and middle stages than horses are often ridden to produce, rather than leaving all the work to the final 800m.
That is a major reason why Pride Of Jenni is so effective.
Horses forced to chase her from extreme margins back in the field must attempt to sustain very high speed from a long way out. They are trying to make up ground in an incredibly difficult scenario that could have been bridged far more efficiently earlier in the race.
Tactically, the key point is that much of this is controlled by those settling at the front of the chasing pack. Those behind, especially runners on the fence and surrounded by horses, are often passengers, dictated by decisions made ahead of them.
⚖️ Tactical Implications of Racing Against Pride Of Jenni
The history of Pride Of Jenni, along with the pace and positional dynamics discussed above, suggests there is a far better chance of beating her when the chasing pack does not allow her to establish and extend a large margin through the middle stages.
When the leaders of the chasing pack remain closer:
➡️ They improve their own efficiency and ability to run their best overall time
➡️ They also improve the efficiency of the horses behind them, tracking with cover, helping those runners maximise their own overall time potential
Importantly, those horses are then travelling at stronger, but ultimately more optimal speeds earlier in the race with the aim of producing their best overall time and, most importantly, winning the contest itself, rather than being forced into desperate late chases from impossible positions.
That creates a far more winnable scenario.
But applying that pressure comes with risk. Riders naturally fear damaging their own winning chances in the process. Some lower-quality horses may not cope with being asked to travel faster.
On the other hand, there are numerous occasions where those fears lead to overly conservative tactics on horses capable of showing more intent.
There was no better example than the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where Pride Of Jenni went very fast, but the nearest chaser, being more than 30 lengths behind her at the 800m mark, saw the pack run 9.5 to 13.6 lengths below standard to that point.
That is the tactical conundrum Pride Of Jenni creates.
⭐️ Sometimes She’s Simply Too Good
This discussion around race shape and tactical efficiency is not to suggest Pride Of Jenni simply wins because rivals allow her to establish large margins.
When she is near her best, she can sustain a high cruising speed and run genuinely fast overall time that many horses simply cannot match. She has repeatedly produced Group 1 level performances doing exactly that.
Often, the tactics simply do not matter.
Whether the chasing pack stays back or remains closer to her through the middle stages, she is sometimes simply too good.
Her effectiveness comes from the combination of:
➡️ The margin she establishes early
➡️ The timing of her mid-race pressure increase
➡️ Her ability to sustain a fast overall speed
Saturday appeared very much an “on” day for her.
At the same time, even when Pride Of Jenni is racing at a high level, horses such as Birdman can still become victims of the tactical chain reaction created by those ahead of them, leaving them in scenarios where they cannot optimise their own performance.
Both things can be true without taking anything away from Pride Of Jenni. As they say, winners are grinners. She does the hard work early and earns every advantage that comes with it.
👑 A Rare Racing Phenomenon
Pride Of Jenni’s legacy is not only being built on her race record and thrilling front-running style, but also the tactical uncertainty and pressure she creates for every rival that lines up against her.
Not since Vo Rogue have we seen a horse use this type of sustained front-running pressure to produce Group 1 performances in a way that creates such difficult tactical scenarios for her rivals.
That unique combination of speed, talent and tactical influence over her opposition gives Pride Of Jenni a rare place in Australian racing history, one that will still be revered decades from now. Article courtesy of Daniel O'Sullivan-Inside Running/Top Rate
