Real Love finished seventh, beaten 3-1/2 lengths, behind Good Project in the Railway Stakes (1600m) on November 21 and Durrant told Radio RSN the five-year-old mare was disadvantaged by track conditions.
"It was one of those days, it was pretty difficult to make up ground. It was disappointing to see the way the track played out, a few of the goat races early in the day were running Group I times," Durrant said.
"The track was obviously not fair for the whole
Real Love won this year's Group III Perth Cup (2400m) but failed to fire in two starts in Melbourne in the Autumn. After two runs this preparation Durrant said the daughter of Desert King is looking for a step up in
"She's a horse that is going to keep improving as she gets up over distance and she attacked the line really well in the Railway,” Durrant said
"She's come through the run really well which is the most important thing."
Chris Parnham will ride Real Love after Damien Oliver was aboard for the Railway Stakes but opted to ride Magic Artist on Saturday.
"Hopefully she can finish off
"At some stage I think her future is going to see her over east with someone and finish her career over there.
"She's definitely going as well as she was 12 months ago. If you look at the other day there was only a handful of horses able to make ground and she was one of them.”