Tasmanian juvenile Triple Asset has defied a betting drift and given trainer John Keys his biggest success in the Group Three Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Flemington.
Unwanted by punters, the daughter of Nadeem ($7.50 to $12) was in a duel with the Peter Moody-trained Metonymy ($4.60) in the lead all the way up the 1200m straight on Saturday and showed remarkable tenacity to score by a nose.
The win was payback for Keys after Triple Asset was beaten a long neck by Moody’s star colt Golden Archer in Tasmania’s Listed Gold Sovereign Stakes on February 10.
“She is a beauty,” Keys said, fighting back tears.
“Fair dinkum I’m over the top.
“It is just so special.”
Keys said the clash with Golden Archer made Triple Asset as a racehorse.
She has now won three of her six starts and been placed on the other three occasions.
“She been learning all the way through but a couple of those early runs she wasn’t really up to the mark because it was a bit hard to get a few trials into her,” Keys said.
“When she ran into Golden Archer two starts back she slipped a little bit on the turn, I think that was the turning point for her to be a racehorse.”
Jockey Michael Rodd said Triple Asset was up for the fight and kept sticking her neck out all the way to the line.
She lunged on the post to get up in a blanket-finish.
The Peter Snowden-trained first starter Altar was a head away third and Moody’s heavily-backed debutante Plucky Belle ($4 to $3.20 fav) was another head away fourth.
Keys was last associated with a big-race winner in 1996 when Jam City, trained by his Victorian-based brother Ken, won the Hobart Cup.
Triple Asset’s next start will be in the Group Three The Jansz (1200m) at Morphettville on March 26.
AAP TURF
