A belated shot at the Brisbane winter carnival is among the options for lightly raced filly Aemelius after she upstaged a handy field of two-year-olds to win the opening race at Randwick.
Having just her second start, the Annabel Neasham-trained youngster, who started at $12 with betting sites, went back to last from an outside draw and stormed down the outside to defeat Swiftfalcon ($8) by a length with Pisces ($2.70 fav) holding on for third another neck away.
Neasham’s racing manager Rob Archibald said the stable had a good opinion of the daughter of Hellbent and had been confident she would improve on her debut third to Pisces on a heavy track at Newcastle.
“We’ve been really pleased with her since that first-up run at Newcastle on soft ground,” Archibald said.
“We were confident she would take a really nice step forward into today.
“Obviously the draw was a little bit of a concern, but Alysha (Collett) summed it up very quickly and gave her a great ride and she was very strong late.
“It’s nice to see her put that together today and she is only going to continue to improve as she matures. She is a smart filly in the making.”
A half-sister to the ill-fated dual Listed winner Brave Mead, Aemelius holds a nomination for the Group 1 J J Atkins Stakes (1600m) at Eagle Farm next month.
After taking out Saturday’s Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Handicap (1200m), a Queensland trip will be considered, although Archibald says they are just as likely to put her in the paddock now with a view to the spring.
“We will see how she comes through it, but we could potentially look to Queensland,” Archibald said.
“We always thought she was going to be a really nice three-year-old, so if she comes through it really well we might give consideration to giving her another run, or we might just put her away and bring her back as a spring filly for that nice (Princess) Series.”
Aemelius was given a beautifully judged ride by Collett, who was happy to bide her time back in the field and bring the filly with an unimpeded run down the outside to score.
She believes the juvenile has a bright future, especially as her distances are increased.
“I especially loved her last 100 metres and how she sat up in the last bit, she was doing it that easily,” Collett said.
“I think we are working with a nice filly here.”
