Late maturing Mirra Vision has got to her maiden Group 1 assignment a little quicker than her trainers had originally intended.
A winner of seven of her 18 starts, the daughter of Lonhro steps out in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday for Peter and Paul Snowden.
Mirra Vision had six barrier trials in Sydney before making it to the racetrack where she recorded victories at her first three starts – at Newcastle, Warwick Farm and Randwick respectively – before she was tried at stakes level in her next three starts, all as a three-year-old.
She failed to fill a place in those three outings – finishing fourth on two occasions – and it was back to benchmark company in a bid to improve her record.
After notching further three victories, the Snowden’s sent the mare back to stakes level where she ran second at Newcastle in the Group 3 Tibbie Stakes (1400m) before taking out the Group 3 Angst Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on October 9.
Peter Snowden said the plan was to come to Melbourne but did not expect her to be featuring in a Group 1 race at this stage, but Mirra Vision has gone ahead in leaps and bounds.
“The plan was to bring her here at this time of year and get her benchmark up to feature in some of the black type races and she has been going in leaps and bounds,” Snowden said.
“She’s in good form and coming off her last start, it was a good win. It’s the best we’ve ever had her, and she has been working well and getting on the right leg.
“It is a weight-for-age race and there’s some fair horses in there and she’s giving away some weight with her rating, but she is on the up and deserves a crack at a race like this on Saturday.
“She races on-pace and travels well and at her first crack at a mile she ran that really well and won by a good margin.”
Mirra Vision is a $23 chance with TAB that sees Tofane the market leader at $3.70 over Tasmanian mare Mystic Journey at $6 and Godolphin’s Colette at $6.50.
