Premier trainer Tony Gollan made two correct decisions to help filly Starosa score a strong win at Doomben.
Starosa ($12) sat second for much of the race before bounding clear in the straight and holding on to beat the favourite Tumbler Ridge ($1.95) in the QTIS 2YO (1350m).
Gollan had entered Starosa for Doomben, the Gold Coast and Ipswich this week but finally decided on Doomben.
He also made the right call to take blinkers off the race gear for Starosa.
“I had her in at three tracks and I thought Doomben would be the pick,” Gollan said.
“But I was just a bit iffy going from the 1200m of her previous start to 1350m today.”
“I had a chat with her breeder who pointed out her dam had won at 1600m so that gave me more confidence.”
Gollan said Starosa had over-raced when wearing blinkers at her previous start.
“I took them off her for a jump out and she went really well. So I suppose both decisions we made about her were correct.”
Starosa is likely to be set for races around the 1400m mark in coming weeks.
Gollan’s apprentice Baylee Nothdurft rode a heady race to get Starosa home.
Nothdurft was suspended for 13 days at the Sunshine Coast on Friday night and will make up his mind about appealing over the weekend.
Tumbler Ridge lost no admirers for a winter campaign with his second after being caught deep under 61.5kg.
