An impressive finishing sprint from Le Societe got Luke Nolen off to a flying start at Caulfield on Saturday.
Nolen, who started the day one win behind Craig Newitt in the race for the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership, had to change course in the straight on the Peter Moody-trained Le Societe before the talented three-year-old powered home to take out the Printhouse Handicap (1000m).
The daughter of Anabaa, who started $4.20 favourite, rushed home to defeat The Counterfeiter ($19) by 1-1/4 lengths with Loveyamadly ($7) a nose away third after kicking clear in the straight.
“She’s had her little issues but she’s got a pretty good strike rate with three wins from four starts and she didn’t have the best of luck here first-up last time,” Nolen said.
From a wide barrier Nolen had Le Societe midfield with cover but she was spotting the leaders a decent start into the straight.
The filly started to make ground and Nolen had to switch inside of Vatican at the 200m mark before finding clear running.
“She wasn’t forward enough to be starting a long run and it all worked in her favour,” Nolen said.
Moody wasn’t on track despite arriving from England following the success of Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
His stable foreman Tom Brideoake said the win was impressive.
“She’s an extremely classy horse and showed that today,” Brideoake said.
Le Societe’s only defeat came first-up at Caulfield in February when fourth behind Shopaholic which was her only summer appearance.
“She had a slight hiccup but nothing too serious,” Brideoake said.
“We gave her a bit of time off and she’s come back better than ever.”