Spring plans remain fluid for Speak Fondly with Gai Waterhouse happy to soak up her winning return in the Silver Shadow Stakes.
Her Group Two win over 1200m at Randwick on Saturday came at the first start of her three-year-old season which Waterhouse said was full of possibilities.
Speak Fondly
The winner of the Magic Night Stakes in March, Speak Fondly ($5) gave away weight to all her rivals but was never challenged, beating stablemate Kimberley Star ($3.10) by 1-1/4 lengths with favourite Lake Geneva ($2.80) a further 2-3/4 lengths third.
“I really don’t know where she goes next and what distance she will get to,” Waterhouse said.
Her jockey Kerrin McEvoy said the filly, who wore blinkers for the first time, felt stronger than she had in the autumn but felt like a sprinter to him.
“She missed the start a little bit the first time wearing the blinkers,” he said.
“We were able to get it relatively easy for a couple of furlongs down the side.
“She has really developed and strengthened up since I sat on her in a race.
“She wasn’t stopping today but she feels like a sprinting filly.”
Tommy Berry said the favourite was disappointing.
“She had a beautiful run and I thought she was going to let down well but she was disappointing in the finish,” he said.
The Silver Shadow is the first leg of a series of four races for fillies during the spring.
The Furious Stakes (1200m) is in two weeks followed by a step up in distance to the Tea Rose (1400m) and the Flight Stakes (1600m) at Group One level in October.
As a Group Two winner, Speak Fondly carried 57kg topweight, 1kg more than Group Three winner Fireworks with the rest of the field on 54kg.
