After several impressive trials but no joy on race day, UNDERHAND finally converted her abundant, natural speed into a victory at Gatton Saturday.
Flying the lids, the WINNING RUPERT filly showed her rivals a clean pair of heels to lead from barrier to box in the 860m Maiden, collecting a handsome $27,950 courtesy of the QTIS fillies bonus. Ironically, stablemate OCEAN TREATY who was narrowly defeated in the Listed Tattersalls Mile on the same day at Eagle Farm, earned $29,000 for her Stakes placing.
Two eye-catching Doomben trials had prefaced an underwhelming return to the races by UNDERHAND at Dalby on June 6. However dropping from 1100m to 860m, drawing a softer gate and leading effortlessly, produced the desired result under stable apprentice Emily Lang.
“She was super today. As soon as the gates opened, no horse was going to cross her. She’s still green and a bit looky but she hasn’t had much race experience under her belt so has really improved today,” Lang said.
The Gatton win was O’Dea/Hoysted’s third successive maiden victory in as many weeks with females bearing the Proven Thoroughbreds colours. DEEP CLEAN got the sequence rolling at the Sunshine Coast on June 11 and seven days later DEEP UNDERCOVER prevailed at Warwick before UNDERHAND’s triumph.
With 6 weeks remaining in the season the Proven prizemoney tally is a breath away from $10m from 42 victories, two at GROUP 1 level.