While his two banner horses, Group 1 winners Arcadia Queen (Pierro) and Regal Power (Pierro), have struggled to live up to expectations, it is the next level of Peters Investments stars that look set to shine.
Showmanship (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}) and Perfect Jewel (Redoute's Choice), have been getting the job done early in the spring and with co-trainer Grant Williams overseeing the Victorian raid, Peters also has progressive 4-year-olds Windstorm (Redoute's Choice) and Superstorm (Sebring).
Windstorm was a fast-finishing fourth at Caulfield on Saturday, while Superstorm resumed to be beaten less than 2l in ninth in the G3 The Heath S., an excellent return for a gelding suited to much longer races.
"When you've got numbers, they can make you look good," Peters told TDN AusNZ when asked about his 2020 spring strategy. "I used to send those sort of numbers across to George Hanlon quite a long time ago."
On Saturday, Showmanship, who has won six of his seven starts, including an impressive last start BM84 H. victory at Caulfield, steps up to stakes company for the first time in the Listed Strathmore Community Bendigo Bank S. at Moonee Valley.
Peters feels Showmanship, who has been mooted as a possible contender for The Everest next month, has made the necessary improvement between runs to keep his name high up in the mind of slotholders in the 1200 metre sprint.
"He's been very good and he's in on Saturday again," Peters said. "It's going to be a bit of a new experience there, handling the Moonee Valley track. I guess that is a bit of a concern but we will know a lot more on Saturday."
Agent John Chalmers purchased Showmanship, who is a half-brother to champion Singaporean stayer Bahana (NZ) (Elusive City {USA}) and brother to stakes-placed La Mouline (NZ), on Peters' behalf for NZ$145,000 out of the Haunui Farm draft at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale at Karaka. It is the extended family of Group 1 winner Princess Jenni (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}).
Showmanship (NZ) as a yearling
Peters feels the 5-year-old has the potential to progress to elite company this time in.
"We hope he is. That’s the reason he is over there. He'll tell us that as he goes along," Peters said.
Whether that means The Everest, a race Peters tried to win with Arcadia Queen last year, is not something Peters can control.
"That decision is in other people's hands, not ours, nor the handicapper or anyone. The slotholders have to like him before he gets there," he said.
Power shortage
Peters has already won one of the recently established big money races in Australia when Regal Power proved himself superior in the All-Star Mile at Caulfield in March. The now 5-year-old was supposed to lead the charge for the cerise and white this spring but after a below-par ninth in the G2 PB Lawrence S., he only beat one runner home in the G1 Memsie S.
With nothing physically wrong with the G1 Railway S. winner, Grant and Alana Williams and Peters have decided to back Regal Power up in Saturday's G2 Feehan S. in a bid to kickstart his spring.
Regal Power
"It’s hard to tell where he is at. We don’t know. It could be that he hasn't been getting enough work and we have to settle him and we will probably find out a bit more after Saturday," he said.
"He's not a horse that can sit and sprint, you have to get him rolling. The races that he has been in have been a bit stop-start and he wants to pull and get his head up and he seems to be unsettled in his races."
"The races that he has been in have been a bit stop-start and he wants to pull and get his head up and he seems to be unsettled in his races." - Bob Peters
Regal Power's spring goal was to be the G1 Cox Plate and Saturday's race will be a crucial moment in determining if that is still the case.
Arcadia Queen is also nominated for that race and her return to the track was much anticipated this spring. Eighteen months ago, she had a bigger boom on her than any galloper in Australia but she has only had three runs since, and was scratched from the Memsie S. last Saturday.
"She's got this hoof problem again that's still there," Peters said. "It’s not good when they miss races, and it interferes with the whole campaign. It’s not easy. They were the two big names we bought over for the main races, and neither of them are performing for us at the moment.
"We wouldn't be looking good if we had only sent over those two."
Arcadia Queen
The Perfect back-up
Thankfully there was room for a few others on the trip, including Perfect Jewel, who won Saturday's G3 Cockram S. becoming the fourth Peters-owned mare to win that race.
"We have won it with Petite Amour in 1995, Spectrum in 1998, Storm Alert in 2006 and now this year with Perfect Jewel," Peters said.
"When I brought her in for those races in the winter over here, that was going to be her swansong and there were four races at weight-for-age she could go in. She went fairly well in them, so I'd thought I’d have a little try at a mares race over there. If she hadn't have performed well in this first one, I would have put her straight to the breeding barn."
Perfect Jewel, a half-sister to six-time stakes winner Star Exhibit (Statue Of Liberty {USA}) and sister to Listed winner Royal Star (Redoute's Choice), has won three Group 3 races in her past four starts to take her total stakes victories to six.
She has won just short of $1 million on the track, and Peters is keen to see her add more stakes victories in the Melbourne spring.
"The (G2) Let's Elope S. on Saturday week is where she goes next over the 1400 metres. My plans were always if she was going well, she would progress through those mares races," he said.
"But there's a few people asking me now if we would step her up to something else. That would only happen after another run or two, if she was going really, really well. We could think about that, but I think I'll stick to my original plan."
Perfect Jewel
