The SA Derby last Saturday provided further confirmation this is the best crop of three-year-old fillies we’ve seen in a long time.
FEMMINILE became the 3rd filly in 7 years to take out the Group 1 feature from Morphettville. The seven-day back-up from the Oaks and a rails hugging ride from Lachie Neindorf proved too much for her male counterparts.
Only four weeks ago Chris Waller’s filly AELIANA trounced the boys by 5L in the Australian Derby.
And don’t forget FEMMINILE was beaten nearly 9L when she took on TREASURETHE MOMENT in the VRC Oaks. Then add in LADY SHENANDOAH, who beat the older mares in the Coolmore Classic and we haven’t even mentioned AUTUMN GLOW yet. Even at a grassroots level, the fillies are running incredible times.
I don’t know a single ratings guru who thinks the boys are even remotely close in any division of the three-year-old ranks. And to think BROADSIDING is in that crop! In fact, I remember thinking last spring the boys had the edge – what happened over the Christmas break?
Still at Morphettville, and you’ll never guess who was the run of the day? A three-year-old filly. Her name, ON DISPLAY. She won the Listed Adelaide Guineas (1600m) clocking the best last 400m of the day. She used lane 18 while most of the other winners were much closer to the rail.
MEDIA WORLD took advantage of a straight that raced a touch faster than the bend when he led all the way in the G3 Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m). Our Track Intel team here at The Beaten Favourite explain that hitting a straight that races quicker than the bend, gives you the chance to establish a greater margin than you otherwise would have.
Regardless, MEDIA WORLD was inside standard time overall and his last 200m was strong. He can certainly win again. Around forty minutes later, WINX’s little sister, CITY OF LIGHTS – trained by Joe Pride, outsprinted her rivals in the G3 Hawkesbury Crown (1300m). She was home in a slick 22.44, which ranked the 7th quickest last 400m of the day.
What a great animal FLYING BANDIT is turning out to be. The four-year-old is yet to run a bad race in his 12 starts, where he’s won 6 times and placed a further 3. His worst placing was 7th on debut when just 2.2L off the winner in an unsuitable race. Last Friday he went to Wagga for the Cup. It was a plan hatched by Kerry Parker and after a beautiful ride by Jay Ford, FLYING BANDIT stopped the clock at 2.00:11, which is around 7L above standard. This was his career peak rating. In fact, his last two runs have been career peaks. I’d love to see this highly progressive stayer race for more of the winter before a short let-up and a crack at the spring. Off his rating here, he could mix it in the Wyong Cup and a win there surely earns him a crack at races like the Metropolitan? Anyway I’m getting carried away.
Next up was IN FLIGHT at Hawkesbury on Saturday. Buoyed by her return at Canterbury, and the heavy rainfall going into the weekend, we had high hopes she would give the Hawkesbury Gold Rush an almighty shake. That she did, but DRAGONSTONE gave it a tad bigger shake and nailed us by the barest of margins. The race beat standard time by 3L and if she gets a wet track again, can win this class of race.
Rounding out the weekly runners was SHOT OF WHISKEY up at Eagle Farm. He pulled up with ‘poor recovery’ after getting beaten 7.5L. He did also have to cover plenty of extra ground from the wide gate and it was his first run since February. Don’t be surprised if he improves sharply next start. The race was 3.5L above standard and his time was less than 4L below, meaning a small drop in grade will see him hard to beat.
Nic Ashman is a form expert who has developed his own times rating system to assess races. He is the host of The Beaten Favourite podcast and appears on several other racing media outlets.