When Arctic Glamour claimed the scalp of subsequent Group 1 winner Joliestar as a three-year-old, connections thought the sky was the limit.
It has taken two years and many frustrating defeats for the mare to deliver another, but she has done it in style, upsetting her more fancied rivals to claim Saturday’s Group 2 Hot Danish Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill.
“It has been a while between drinks, but she has ‘prepped’ up really good this preparation,” co-trainer Sterling Alexiou said.
“She was a bit unlucky in a Missile Stakes behind Schwarz, but she just hasn’t won for so long.
“I’m more pleased for the owners because last time she won a race she beat Joliestar and we didn’t know what we had and where we could end up with her.
“It has been two-and-a-bit years now so not a bad race to resume winning in.”
With the addition of blinkers, Arctic Glamour ($41) jumped smartly, and Tom Sherry opted to camp her outside the leader.
She assumed control of the race at the top of the straight and pulled out plenty to stave off the bid of Bauhinia ($13) by a neck with Snow In May ($15) another 1-3/4 lengths in arrears.
The win gave Sherry a treble after he earlier combined with Annabel and Rob Archibald to land victories aboard Tuned and Luskaire and the hoop was thrilled to star on a feature day.
“I had good rides today but that doesn’t always go to plan, does it? When it does go to plan it is exciting,” Sherry said.
“She has obviously been out of form, goes well fresh and the application of blinkers sparked her.”
Along with a gear change, the mare has also enjoyed a trouble-free preparation after battling feet issues for most of her career, while some variation to her training regime played a role.
“She normally wears the visors, we put the blinkers on and did a few different things with her,” Alexiou said.
“We worked her a bit sharper. We put her over some hurdles. She worked over the hurdles this morning just to get her thinking about things again. Completely rapt.”
A poor performance in the Hot Danish Stakes (1400m) would have resulted in Arctic Glamour being retired to the broodmare barn but she is now likely to progress to the Festival Stakes (1500m) later this month.
