Alpha Sofie, who made it back-to-back wins at Eagle Farm on Saturday for trainer Jason Edwards will now relocate south to the Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman stable yard.
A daughter of Capitalist, Alpha Sofie has won two of her three career starts … the wins coming either side of the change of racing season … and it is the manner in which those victories have been achieved that mark her as an exciting prospect.
For trainer Jason Edwards it was a bitter-sweet moment claiming that second win.
Taking on that run delayed but did not change any of the pre-laid plans for Alpha Sofie to move on from the Edwards stable after the run so, win, lose or draw Alpha Sofie was always going to head south.
Alpha Sofie’s owner had been up front with Edwards all the way through, so Edwards was always aware of the fact that Saturday’s run was going to be the last before Apha Sofie was transferred out of his yard.
Suffice to say, Edwards has done a great job to date with the filly result-wise.
Both wins entailed a come from behind win and both also came with some degree of hinderance which complicated Alpha Sofie’s task to a degree, particularly as she is still a horse with limited race action experience.
In her win as a two-year-old on July 19, in a QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap over 1200m, Alpha Sofie went back to last soon after the break, was steadied off heels at the 700m mark when racing a full nine lengths off the leader … and then, on straightening, when looking to shift out, Alpha Sofie was taken back in again by a runner to her outside.
As a consequence, Alpha Sofie had to switch around three sets of heels and track quickly towards a gap that was available closer to the inside rail … and then, once there, she had to find the determination and the acceleration to forge forward strongly enough to lower the colours of the $2.30 favourite Spanish Treasure, who had looked the likely winner with 150m left to run.
That was eye-catching win number one … in her only her second start and last start as a two-year-old.
Then, on Saturday, Alpha Sofie jumped from a wide gate, was bumped at the start, held wide early and was left chasing, again all of nine lengths back mid-race.
Alpha Sofie did make up ground well enough in the sweep to the home turn, but she was doing a lot of work as the widest runner of all, and she ultimately cornered five wide and a little over three lengths behind the leader Stiktodazscrypt.
Alpha Sofie set about reeling that one in at a steady, measured gallop … and guess who, Spanish Treasure, who Alpha Sofie had beaten into second place in her previous start, tried to come with her.
The race was settled at the 200m where, as Alpha Sofie swept into the lead, Stiktodazscrypt ducked outward sharply and hampered Spanish Treasure, effectively taking Alpha Sofie’s main danger out of contention.
That was eye-catching win number two in Alpha Sofie’s first start as a three-year-old.
Alpha Sofie is obviously still nowhere near the finished product, but, equally obviously, the Moody/Coleman training partnership has very much been given something positive to work with.
It might be remembered that Moody’s previous most famous gain when receiving a horse out of Queensland led to a Caulfield Cup win and a runner-up finish behind Verry Elleegant in the Melbourne Cup.
That horse was Incentivise and the circumstances of the move were vastly different to that of Alpha Sofie.
Few get to reach those heights, but it just shows where a new road can lead.
