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This time last year Exquisite Jewel was at the top of her game in preparation for the Queensland winter carnival.

Despite running fourth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks, she won the Gr.3 Manawatu Classic at 35-1 and backed her Awapuni victory up with a second placing to Werther in the Gr.2 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie.

Exquisite Jewel then crossed the Tasman and finished an encouraging fifth in the Gr.2 The Roses before her luck ran out when unplaced behind the irrepressible Winx in the Gr.1 Queensland Oaks.

“Jim Byrne got off her after The Roses and said she would win the Oaks,” trainer Sue Walsh said.

“Unfortunately, she got in strife at the winning post going out of the straight and that was that.”

It also turned out to be Exquisite Jewel’s last race day appearance.

“We were all go for the first day of the Hawke’s Bay spring carnival last year, but I had an instinct that something wasn’t quite right,” Walsh said.

“We couldn’t find anything wrong with her and the vet said we could start her, but I played cautious and the owners left it up to me so we didn’t start.

“I got her scanned and she had a minute hole in her tendon. It wasn’t major and she had never been sore.

“She’s doing plenty of walking now and she may have a break over the winter and we’ll keep monitoring her and be guided by the vet. If tracks are too hard by the time she’s ready in the spring then we’ll wait for the autumn.

“I’ve got good owners who are prepared to wait. She’s a big, leggy filly and what she’s done so far has been a bonus.”