Leading trainer Peter Moody intends to back off with promising filly Total Attraction and set her for the Australasian Oaks in April after she maintained her unbeaten record by completing a hat-trick at Flemington.
The three-year-old, by 2006 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Nadeem, drifted from $3.60 to $5 in the St John Plate (1600m) against the mares but once Ben Melham extricated her from a pocket she finished powerfully to get up by a half-head from Silent Attitude ($18).
Total Attraction winning the St John Plate at Flemington - photo by Race Horse Photos Australia
Besant ($11) was 2-1/4 lengths away third.
Melham had Total Attraction up running fourth and a lot closer than she’d been at her first two wins at Sale over 1208m on December 24 and Caulfield over 1400m on January 7.
“Ben might have played to the fact that he was worried about having to make up too much ground. She was a a bit too close for my liking and when they sprinted she was left a little bit flat-footed,” Moody noted.
“She’s not a big filly but she did well, once she got herself out into the clear she was very strong late.”
Total Attraction, a $30,000 purchase, is from the same family as dual Cox Plate winner Fields Of Omagh.
“There’s no doubt she quickened better last start ridden quieter but she’s a winner, she’s won three from three, so now we’ll up the ante,” Moody said.
“We’ll aim her for the Australasian Oaks in South Australia so we’ll freshen her up for a couple of weeks and I think the mile and a quarter (2000m) is the least of her worries.
“A race like that is well within her grasp.”
The Group One Australasian Oaks (2000m) is at Morphettville on April 28.
Melham said the idea was to ride the filly where she was happy in a race with not a lot of speed.
“Things went to plan and she has a bright future,” he said .
AAP TURF
