Group races in Queensland now await Moss Trip who has put on a barnstorming display to win the Inglis Scone Guineas from near last on the home turn.
The $400,000 1400m-race for three-year-olds carries Restricted Listed status because of its sales-related nature with Moss Trip going into it as a last-start Group Three winner of the J H B Carr Stakes at Randwick.
Despite her good form, the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained filly drifted from $2.90 to $3.60 with punters putting their faith in the Ciaron Maher-trained Villermont, backing him in from $3 to $2.70 favourite.
But like the rest of her rivals, Villermont had no answer to Moss Trip’s finishing sprint and she went on to beat stablemate Assimilate ($6.50) by two lengths.
Last year’s Golden Slipper runner-up Frolic ($9) ran an encouraging third after a run of sub-par performances while Villermont ran fifth.
Having sent his son Paul to Brisbane for the Doomben 10,000 meeting, Peter Snowden was on hand at Scone where he began his career.
“I didn’t expect her to get that far back,” Snowden said.
“It was bad for my heart but in saying that, Brenton (Avdulla) looked confident to me and the last 200 metres was very impressive.
“The people at home that work with her have done a really good job.
“She is physically a lot stronger and mentally she is in a good place.
“She eats likes a machine. She works like a machine and now she is starting to race like a better horse.”
While Snowden had concerns during the race, Avdulla had none.
“I was always confident they would come back to me,” he said.
“She is on the up for sure.”
