Trainer Tony Noonan is expecting veteran mare Soul Diva to find her "gears" in the Group Three Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.Noonan believes the seven-year-old can bounce back from her last run when she was left flat-footed and finished a disappointing 10th to Bird Of Fire in the Group Two Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington."I was terribly disappointed with her last start but there wasn't much speed in the race," Noonan said."They sat and sprinted a bit and when she came out to go forward she di
Trainer Tony Noonan is expecting veteran mare Soul Diva to find her "gears" in the Group Three Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.
Noonan believes the seven-year-old can bounce back from her last run when she was left flat-footed and finished a disappointing 10th to Bird Of Fire in the Group Two Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington.
"I was terribly disappointed with her last start but there wasn't much speed in the race," Noonan said.
"They sat and sprinted a bit and when she came out to go forward she didn't get a chance to go through her gears.
"She will go a lot better on Saturday."
Soul Diva has won nine of her 25 starts and in the last 12 months has improved from a restricted class mare to a regular Group performer.
All her runs this campaign have been at stakes level and Noonan was optimistic about her chances in the Matriarch after running so well in the Inglis Mile (1600m) at Moonee Valley where she was beaten just a long neck when sixth in a blanket finish to dead-heaters Bird Of Fire and Miss Badoura.
Dwayne Dunn is Soul Diva's new rider in Saturday's 2100m feature after Dan Nikolic rode her at her last three starts.
Soul Diva hasn't been placed in two runs on Sandown's Lakeside track but has a perfect record at 2100 metres with her only start at the distance being a 5-1/2 length win at Doomben in July 2006.
She caused an upset at $31 with her last win at Flemington over 1400 metres in May and she is again likely to be at double-figure odds on Saturday.
Bird Of Fire well be chasing her third successive feature race win while Kyneton Cup winner Who's Ya Daddy was reserved for the Eclipse after he was scratched from Wednesday's Ballarat Cup.
Mission Critical's last-start third in the Listed Emirates Airline Handicap (1800m) on Melbourne Cup day suggested he was not far off winning again.
Group One winners Blutigeroo and Valedictum, along with the improving Instructor, are among other Eclipse entries.