A barrier trial at Doomben on Tuesday will decide if top Queensland mare Paprika heads to Melbourne for the Group One Newmarket Handicap at Flemington.Trainer Liam Birchley is pleased with the steady progress Paprika is making since being hurt following her win in the Bat Out Of Hell (900m) at the Gold Coast on January 1.The four-year-old shied after the post and dropped jockey Paul Hammersley then knocked herself when she collected a fence on the way back to the enclosure.The injury has taken t
A barrier trial at Doomben on Tuesday will decide if top Queensland mare Paprika heads to Melbourne for the Group One Newmarket Handicap at Flemington.
Trainer Liam Birchley is pleased with the steady progress Paprika is making since being hurt following her win in the Bat Out Of Hell (900m) at the Gold Coast on January 1.
The four-year-old shied after the post and dropped jockey Paul Hammersley then knocked herself when she collected a fence on the way back to the enclosure.
The injury has taken time to heal and robbed Paprika of a start in the Magic Millions Sprint at the Gold Coast on January 15.
"The plan was to run in the Magic Millions (Sprint) and then the Lightning Stakes in Melbourne before all this happened," Birchley said.
"She's coming along well but it's been slow.
"I want to give her a barrier trial at Doomben on Tuesday and I'll talk to her owners before we make a final decision on Melbourne.
"At this stage she won't run up here and she'll go straight down for the Newmarket and probably run in the Oakleigh Plate first up if she goes well in the trial."
The Group One Oakleigh Plate (1100m) is at Caulfield on Saturday week with the Group One Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 12.
Birchley said Paprika would miss the Brisbane winter carnival and be reserved for the spring if the Melbourne trip was called off.
"If she doesn't go to Melbourne she'll probably go to the paddock and come back for the spring," he said.
"There's nothing around for her in the winter carnival."
Paprika's injury setback was the latest in a long list of problems for the four-year-old.
The daughter of General Nediym was the leading Queensland two-year-old filly of her generation in a campaign that culminated in a luckless second to Phelan Ready in the 2009 Magic Millions Classic.
It was later discovered she required surgery to remove small bone chips.
Her three-year-old season was also plagued by a series of niggling injuries and her connections have endured a frustrating sequence of setbacks along the way.
She was given a short Melbourne campaign, finishing fourth to Lucky Secret in the Group Two Schillaci Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield in October 2009 before suffering heart arrhythmia when she ran last to Headway in the Group One Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington three weeks later.