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Few mares have transcended their gender like Ladies In Red managed to do in the Group 1 The Rising Sun at Albion Park on Saturday night.
Taking on the boys for the first time in her stellar career, the Emma Stewart-trained four-year-old trounced her opposition which included no less than eight individual Group 1 winners.
“You just think that she can’t do it, but she just does the unthinkable,” driver Nathan Jack said.
“She’s just a great horse who overcomes every obstacle.”
Jack admitted he was always confident of finding the lead from the favorable front row draw.
“There is no reason why fast horses like her don’t have good gate speed. I think everybody will look at her a bit different now that’s for sure,” he said.
“You can start and stop her, talk to her – it’s just like driving a motor car.”
Stewart revealed she was relieved when the mare’s owners Bill and Anne Anderson agreed to head north and tackle The Rising Sun with the most sought-after female pacer in the land.
“When they asked us to run in the race, my biggest concern was that Bill and Anne didn’t want her to run in it, but they have been terrific and agreed. So as long as we could get a flight here, she was always coming,” Stewart said.
Stewart also indicated Ladies In Red could back-up next week against her own sex in the Group 1 The Golden Girl.
“We haven’t talked about it yet, but there is a chance that she could be back here,” she said.
The win completed a feature race double for Stewart and Jack after Maajida too led all the way in the Group 3 Fleur De Lil Ladyship Stakes.
Somehow Jack was able to steal a 32.4sec quarter before allowing the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere more rein in a slick 26.7sec last 400 metres to score from fellow Victorian Momentslikethese.
Jack was suitably impressed by his first sit behind Maajida under race conditions.
“It’s only the first time I’ve driven her, but she was very strong on the line,” Jack said.
Jack made no apologies for slowing the tempo during the middle stages of the 1660m sprint trip.
“We’re out there to win, that’s our aim and she was first-up as well,” he said.
“I would expect there will be a bit of improvement for next week.”
The Jess Tubbs-trained Triple Eight launched a successful night for Victorian-prepared horses with a stunning last-to-first win in the Group 3 Mr Feelgood.
Greg Sugars allowed Triple Eight to lob along at the rear of the field in a race of relentless tempo as Mach Di Vinci wrested the lead off Cruz Bromac in a 28.3sec first quarter of the last mile.
Sugars eased seven horses wide around the home turn and Triple Eight cruised past his rivals with 100 metres to travel, scoring comfortably from Rockin Marty and Majestic Cruiser in a mile rate of 1:53.2min.
“We’ve been really happy with him during this whole preparation,” Sugars said after the race.
“We were happy with his trial, we thought we were going to get a good performance tonight so to see him come out and do what we thought he was capable of doing is really pleasing,” he said.
The Matt Craven-trained Bettor Isolate completed a quartet of feature race wins for the Vics when he produced a powerful finale in the Group 3 The Rising Sun Consolation.