Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing is best known for its success with stayers, but the syndication company has a handy two-year-old on it’s books in undefeated filly Lady Laguna.
The youngster took her record to two wins from as many starts when she ploughed through the heavy 10 conditions in the opening race at Rosehill on Saturday, following on from her debut victory at Eagle Farm earlier this month.
Trainer Annabel Neasham feels the interstate trip has helped Lady Laguna rise to a new level and that maturity showed as she controlled the race from the outset.
“I think that trip did her the world of good,” Neasham said.
“It is quite a big ask sending them interstate for their first trip and she did a bit wrong that day, but she did nothing wrong today. She has come on a lot.
“The nicest thing about it is she handles a heavy track.”
Lady Laguna ($7.50), who Henderson hand-picked out of a paddock, streeted her rivals by four lengths with Gendarmerie ($26) doing best of the rest to grab second, two lengths in advance of Wealthy Investor ($31).
Tulloch Lodge youngster Vinnie’s Spirit started a $5.50 favourite and ran evenly to finish seventh.
Neasham says Lady Laguna’s best attribute is her attitude and she plans to give her a break before bringing her back for the major autumn two-year-old races.
“She is a very tenacious sort of filly and I think she is quite smart,” Neasham said.
“I’d say we will put her away for a little bit of a break now. She’s not a Magic (Millions) or an Inglis horse so there is no pressure to try to get her into those sort of races.
“She has got prizemoney now, so we would be mad not to be looking towards a Reisling (Stakes) and those sort of races.”
Tommy Berry did the steering aboard Lady Laguna and expects her to appreciate further than the 1100 metres of Saturday’s race.
“Once I established the lead, in that ground she never skipped a beat. She was very comfortable and relaxed nicely for me,” Berry said.
“But when I asked her to go through her gears in the straight, she kept getting better and better as the race went on.
“That’s a good sign going forward with the better races over 1200 metres.”
