Racing: Singleton keen for joy

A virus has put an end to Dear Demi's spring campaign but her trainer Clarry Conners is still hoping John Singleton's colours can feature in the group one winner's stall.

Yesterjoy will run in Saturday's Wakeful Stakes at Flemington as a prelude to a start in the VRC Oaks which Dear Demi won two years ago.

Dear Demi, who ran third in the 2013 Caulfield Cup, was a late scratching this year with a minor throat infection and was scheduled to run in either the Mackinnon Stakes or the Myer Classic on Saturday.

"She has got a virus which showed up with a high temperature this morning," Conners said yesterday.

"We have pulled the pin on the spring. We won't take any risks with her."

Conners said Yesterjoy had excuses for her unplaced run in the Geelong Classic and he was expecting improvement. "She hit the barrier and Jimmy Cassidy jammed his foot.

"Then she got lost going down the hill at Geelong. She really had no chance but she has come through it well. If she runs well she will go on to the Oaks five days later."

Meanwhile, Ruakaka mare Rising Romance, a plucky second in the Caulfield Cup, will finish her spring campaign in the Mackinnon Stakes, after which she will have a spell.