The venue and time the race was run were different, but Pride Of Jenni continued her love affair with the Feehan Stakes at Caulfield on Sunday.
The popular front-runner joined Shorengro (1968-70) as the only triple winner of the Moonee Valley Racing Club feature when she turned in a trademark relentless performance.
It was the first edition of the Feehan Stakes at Caulfield, with the race having recently taken up a position as a major support act on Moonee Valley’s Friday night meeting on Grand Final Eve.
That meeting was this year transferred to Caulfield with The Valley undergoing a reconstruction.
Pride Of Jeni tackled this year’s event first-up since her second placing in the Group 1 Doomben Cup in May and trainer Ciaron Maher can’t believe the Tony Ottobre-owned mare is going as strong as ever at nine years of age.
Feehan Stakes | Pride Of Jenni
"It's a three-peat that has thrilled us all!" Back like she never left, the champ. Pride Of Jenni wins her third Feehan Stakes & does it dominantly ⭐️
📺 Ch. 78/68, Foxtel 529, Kayo or via our app
REPLAYS: https://t.co/HEhdpozFmy pic.twitter.com/frnbr2ApZ8— Racing.com (@Racing) September 27, 2026
“We were very rapt with her since the winter, Tony and his team manage her well and our team certainly know her very, very well,” Maher said.
“I can’t thank the whole team at Cranbourne (enough). That’s where she spends most of her time, but she went to Ballarat for a gallop this prep which all the staff were happy about.
“She’s just phenomenal. She’s such a great mare. To have her back at this age and arguably in as good a form as ever, it is quite remarkable.”
The third-straight Feehan Stakes success was the 14th of Pride Of Jenni’s 49-start career and the $300,000 winner’s purse took her earnings to a tick over $12.8m.
She did not have things all her own way early in the race, with long-time foe Mr Brightside ridden aggressively from his wide gate early, but she was in front after 200m and then Declan Bates set about rating her as well as he normally does.
The $1.85 favourite’s lead was down to around two lengths turning for home, but she found in the straight to score by 1-1/2 lengths from Treasurethe Moment ($8), who bounced back from her Makybe Diva Stakes flop, with Pounding – the $71 outsider of the field – 1-3/4 lengths back third.
A talking point post-race was the performance of star miler Mr Brightside, who dropped out late and failed to beat home a rival.
Bates was full of praise for the horse that has changed his life after their eighth win together.
“She’s just made of different stuff,” Bates said.
“We know it now. All the signs at home were that she’s as good as ever and I really came here full of confidence at how well she was going.
“Once again, Ciaron Maher producing her on the day. It was for me just sit and steer and enjoy the ride.”
