With top Australian spring racing well under way, Pencarrow Racing is looking to contest some of the black-type races on offer with a team of three heading to Melbourne.

Group 1 winner Banchee (Oratorio) had a hit out between races at Te Aroha last week and such was the level of her work, her trainer John Sargent took little time in confirming that the mare was heading to Melbourne where she will line up in the Group 1 $500,000 Myer Classic (1600m) on Saturday.

Banchee has only had one run this preparation in Taupo which she won well and will head to Melbourne with just that start under her belt.

“She is a wonderfully clean winded mare,” said Sargent. “She is a mare who comes to hand quickly and the plane trip to Melbourne is a plus to tighten her up.”

Banchee won the Group 1 Auckland Diamond Stakes at two and showed her class at three when winning the Karaka 3YO Mile, and Sargent has said all along that the spacious Flemington straight will allow her to wind up and produce her big finish.

Pencarrow Racing has also sent over two black-type winners from last season, the Steven Ramsay & Julia Ritchie trained pair Our Ella Belle (Encosta de Lago) and Guiseppina (Johar).

A mare that has spent considerable time on the sideline due to injury, Guiseppina showed that she has stacks of ability when winning three races in a row last season, culminating in the Listed Flying Handicap. Just lightly raced, the five-year-old has lined up nine times for four raceday victories to her credit.

She produced a big run fresh up this season in Hawke’s Bay on 17 September to run second to Imani, and since then has had one outing in the Group 3 Taranaki Breeders Stakes where she wasn’t at ease on the dead track. She is amongst the 23 nominations for the Group 1 Myer Classic and hoping to make the field on Saturday.

Five-year-old Our Ella Belle was Group 1 placed at three and the winner of the Group 3 Taranaki Cup last season. She has had three starts this season, being unlucky in her last New Zealand start when she was checked in the Listed Matamata Cup (1600m) on 8 October.

She had her first start in Mooney Valley on Cox Plate day and ran a good three lengths away fifth in the Group 3 Trojan Hand Tools Stakes over a mile, following a race delay due to thunder storms. She will be hoping for better ground in her next start when she lines up in the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) on Emirates Stakes day (5 November) at Flemington.