Standing in the barriers at Bendigo while waiting for the other horses to be loaded put an end to the hopes of Elphinstone at her debut.
But trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy saw enough in the filly’s debut run to give her a shot at $1 million The Showdown (1200m) at Sandown on Saturday.
Tony McEvoy admits it is ‘aggressive placement’ for the filly who finished fourth at Bendigo behind She’sallshenanigans, an opponent on Saturday, but has seen enough in Elphinstone to warrant a start.
“She just made too many mistakes at her first start,” McEvoy said.
“I thought she would lead, or sit outside the lead, but we were fourth last because we jumped slow.
“She couldn’t work it out early and was running an OK race, but then worked it out and went boom.
“It’s an aggressive placement on Saturday, but it’s worth $1 million and there are a lot of horses in the same sort of boat as us.”
Elphinstone has had a jump-out since her debut at Bendigo in the VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) on April 1, and did what was expected of her on debut.
“She pinged out, of course,” McEvoy said.
“She was in there too long that day and I think that’s why she missed the start.”
Like her well-performed stablemate Bossy Nic, Elphinstone had a delayed start to her career due to the time taken in getting a name.
Bossy Nic has had three starts, winning the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) at Flemington last month before finishing fourth in the Group 2 Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m) at Randwick last Saturday.
Elphinstone and Bossy Nic did a lot of their early work together and McEvoy said they were both similar types of fillies.
“She had been matching it with Bossy Nic, so she’s quite a nice filly,” McEvoy said.
