A last start win signalling a return to form at just the right time could be the recipe for Victorian visitor Dazzling Lucy to upset the local favoured hopes at Hobart on Friday.
Though it took the six-year-old mare three years to find herself in the winners’ circle since her victory at Moonee Valley in December 2022, her win at Flemington at benchmark 78 level over 1100m has trainer Tony Noonan keen to see her go on with it in the Group 3 Mystic Journey Stakes (1200m) for fillies and mares.
“She’s as good as I can get her and she’s had the ideal prep with two runs leading into it,” Noonan said from Brighton just north of Hobart.
“She’s still on the up in that sense and I think she’s well placed in it.”
The main challenges to overcome for Dazzling Lucy ($12) are in locals Geegees Mistruth ($2.70 favourite) first-up this preparation after finishing unplaced in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield in November and Ms Tasmania ($4.40) who will be shooting for a sixth win in succession.
“They’re both three-year-olds and I don’t think the history of the race lends itself to them so much as I don’t think they’ve won it in more than 20 years,” Noonan observes.
“They get weight relief off our mare, but she is a big, strong, mature mare who has travelled before and is in form.
“She needed to be strong through the line at Flemington and she put the pressure on when she needed to.
“She’s been running consistently without winning in city races back home
The Mystic Journey has been won by Victorian-trained mares over the past five editions and forms a part of the first day of Hobart’s two-day Cup meeting highlighted by the Hobart Cup on Sunday.
