Angela Jones is having a field day out in her first taste of action in New Zealand.
She won the fourth race at Ellerslie and she made it a double when guiding the Peter and Shaun McKay trained Santa Catalina to victory in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth 11 Cup over 2400m in race eight … saluting at double figure odds in what was really a big win.
Santa Catalina was held three wide throughout the running and swept even wider on the home turn, but Jones was able to rally the five-year-old mare and, while it was a long chase home, Santa Catalina never stopped coming.
Having said that, it was still an almighty close call late as Santa Catalina, in the centre of the track, still had to run down Trust In You, another runner at double figure odds who looked to have the result covered with 100m left to run, but Jones gets that extra edge out of her horses and Santa Catalina ultimately arrived under an inch perfect result to snare Trust In You in the final strides.
Angela Jones posted her first win (in her second ride), partnering the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott trained Up The Anti to victory in the fourth race at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day.
In a ride that would have caught the attention of the New Zealand racing public, Jones had Up The Anti racing juts worse than midfield in the early part before improving his position, but Up The Ante was held all of four wide in a packing field approaching the home turn … and he had a testing four lengths to make up on straightening.
Jones then still had to switch around heels early in the home straight to get into clear running but, once there, Jones was able to really set Up The Anti about his business and the five-year-old stretched out with meaning, going past the five horses in front of him in measured fashion.
He hit the lead at the 150m mark and maintained his race winning momentum all the way to the line to keep the fast finishing The Exponent at bay.
