Peter Snowden has named Daisy’s Joy as his preferred ATC Australian Oaks filly after the trainer rated the John Singleton-owned three-year-old a certainty beaten at Rosehill.
In a finish that gave Snowden a quinella in the Peter Malone Handicap, the outsider of the stable’s pair Self Esteem ($13) held off the fast-finishing Daisy’s Joy ($8) by a short half-head.
As Self Esteem sat in the pacemaker’s slipstream, Daisy’s Joy settled at the back of the field and was 15 lengths from the leader in the middle stages.
It forced jockey Brenton Avdulla to make up his ground between runners, change course late and then tell Snowden: “The barrier beat me.”
Snowden agreed and he will give Daisy’s Joy the chance to do something her Singleton-owned mother Tuesday Joy couldn’t do – win the ATC Australian Oaks.
Tuesday Joy finished third in the 2007 edition and Snowden says Daisy’s Joy is showing every sign she will make it as a stayer.
“She just got too far back and there’s probably a bit more upside to her going forward than the other filly,” Snowden said.
“There’s no doubt she should have probably won.”
Daisy’s Joy is an $11 Oaks chance behind the VRC Oaks winner Jameka and former New Zealand filly Risque who share favouritism at $8.
Self Esteem was ridden by Lester Grace who was a late replacement for Andrew Adkins after his fellow apprentice became dehydrated after riding in the third race.
Ironically, Adkins was taking the ride at the expense of Winona Costin after she failed a concussion test following a race fall at Canberra on Sunday.
Chris Waller trained his first two-year-old winner for the season and then made a promise to stable followers that augers well for his team of juveniles towards the end of 2015-2016.
Richly bred Omei Sword ($8) raced up to her breeding in winning the Peter Svendsen Handicap.
“We have given our two-year-olds the time they have needed and the stable will be strong late in the season,” Waller said.
Omei Sword is by High Chaparral from Irish Lights, the 2009 Group One Thousand Guineas winner.
And the Thousand Guineas is the race Waller says is the right fit for Omei Sword.
“It’s just very cautious steps with her but I think she is a Thousand Guineas-type horse,” Waller said.
