Peter Moody suspects the Spring Carnival might come around a fraction early for Ole Dancer but the Pakenham trainer is open to the idea of giving her the chance to land a feature win.
The untapped filly took her record to two wins from as many starts with a tenacious victory in the $150,000 Senet Gambling Law Expert 2YO Handicap that kicked off Saturday’s Caulfield card.
The 1200-metre race was her first start since a debut win at Murray Bridge on March 8 and underlined her class given her immaturity according to Moody, who trains in partnership with Katherine Coleman.
“I think she’s a lovely filly and I think she’s got the ability to be running in Spring races but whether she has the maturity will probably be the question mark,” Moody said.
“If she got to a race like the Thousand Guineas she’d probably get there on one run. She’s that type of filly, she won’t need a lot of racing due to lack of maturity.
“So, she’s still got a lot of growth ahead of her, but you’re only a three-year-old filly in the Spring once.”
Ole Dancer is a daughter of Vinery stallion Ole Kirk, who will next week be crowned Australia’s champion first-season sire.
Star jockey Blake Shinn partnered Ole Dancer and was able to hold the spot behind leader Cannyworth before extricating his way into the clear 250m from home, after which Ole Dancer let down impressively to score a gritty one length win.
The $3.90 favourite held off Thanks Gorgeous ($6.50) with Shystar ($9) close up in third position. One-time Blue Diamond favourite Cherish Me ($5.50) was a notable drifter at her first run since February and was never a winning hope, finishing sixth beaten almost three lengths.
Shinn endorsed Moody’s view that Ole Dancer has a good race in her.
“It was instinctive from her point of view and it was very impressive, because she took the gap and was very brave in doing so and then knuckled down well,” Shinn said.
“She did it at her first run at first run at Murray Bridge, she showed good ring craft even though she’s relatively young, and she’d got a bright future ahead of her.”
The win carried extra significance for Shinn, who stretched his lead in the Melbourne Jockeys’ Premiership to eight with less than two meetings remaining.
