Cool Storm pushed herself into contention for Sunday’s Railway Handicap with a courageous victory in the Newmarket Handicap at Ellerslie.
The One Cool Cat mare was caught three-wide in the running, normally a tough task over 1200m at Ellerslie, but she was too strong in the straight in the hands of Trudy Thornton and won by half a length from Mi Payday.
“Not many horses win after being three-wide outside the leader here,” trainer Stephen McKee said.
“I wanted Trudy to go forward with her and it looked like it might have backfired being that wide, but full credit to her.”
The victory ensures Cool Storm will get a start in the Railway Handicap in which betting is dominated by Australian visitor Atomic Force.
Cool Storm had won just once in 17 starts before Monday’s race but she had raced several times in black type company and been placed at Group Two level prior to the Newmarket.
“She’s nominated for the Railway and there’s no reason why she can’t back up,” McKee said.
Favourite Aspinal was half a length behind Mi Payday in third place.
The Darren Smith-trained Atomic Force won the Group One Galaxy (1100m) at Randwick in April but missed an invitation to the Hong Kong Sprint earlier this month.
That prompted the trip to New Zealand for the Group One sprint on New Year’s Day.
Just two of Atomic Force’s 10 wins have been over 1200 metres with seven at 1100 and one at 1000.
NZN
