Champion jockey Damien Oliver has claimed a Group One double in Adelaide with Sydney mare Spright winning the Sangster Stakes to add to Princess Jenni’s Australasian Oaks.
Saturday’s double at Morphettville took Oliver’s Group One tally to 117.
While the jockey had to negotiate traffic in the Oaks (2000m), he was committed to Spright’s normal pattern in the Sangster (1200m) which is to get back and unleash a powerful finishing sprint.
Trained by Garry Frazer at Hawkesbury, Spright ($6) looked as if she might be too far back but in the end her win was decisive when she beat the equal favourite Cool Passion ($5.50) by 1-1/4 lengths.
Frazer deflected praise and the media to his son Jordan who has been looking after the mare on her trip to Adelaide and rides her in work.
“She needs genuine pace and she needs clear running,” Jordan Frazer told broadcaster racing.com.
“Ollie had her in a good spot to pounce.
“She worked on Tuesday morning as good as she can do and she’ll be there for the Goodwood now.”
Oliver said the early pace was perhaps slower than ideal but he put his trust in multiple stakes winner Spright.
“The first quarter didn’t seem that fast and I felt I was further back than I would have liked,” he said.
“You can’t push her to go before she’s ready and I had to back her finish.
“Her last 200 to 300 metres is amazing and inside the 200 I just hoped she could come over the top of them as she did.
“This mare is so consistent at this level.”
Spright had previously been placed twice at Group One level when third behind Viddora and Brave Smash in the Moir Stakes last spring and second to star filly Sunlight in the William Reid in March.
The mare is the firming favourite to add the Goodwood at Morphettville in two weeks to her win against the fillies and mares.
