Sydney filly Winning Verse is returning to Melbourne to chase some Black Type
A Melbourne win after getting away from wet tracks in Sydney has led to another start down south, this time in a stakes race.
Trainer Marc Conners has Winning Verse set to run in the Listed A R Creswick Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Winning Verse made her Melbourne debut on May 28, racing to a 3-½ length win over 1100m at Caulfield, a win that surprised her trainer.
“We thought she’d run well at Caulfield, but she probably exceeded expectations a little bit in the way she put them away,” Conners said.
Winning Verse had returned from a break at Randwick in April, where she found the heavy conditions against and was eased down by her rider Brenton Avdulla.
Conners said that day, while the track was a heavy 10, it was more like a heavy 12.
“She just couldn’t pick her feet up in it, so Brenton was easy on her and that was probably why she was beaten as far as she was,” Conners said.
Saturday’s Listed race came on the radar after her latest victory.
“There are not a lot of chances to run in a stakes race before she turns four,” Conners said.
“So, it worked in well for us, three weeks between runs and it looks a nice race on paper.
“We’re not shying away from the fact that it’s going to be a lot harder task on Saturday, but she’s in good form and we’ll get her down there and she how she goes again.”
Michael Dee, who rode the filly to victory at Caulfield, again has the ride on Saturday.
Gimme Par, a relation to Black Caviar, is the highest-rated runner in Saturday’s Listed race.
It would be a fitting result with Royal Ascot starting on Tuesday night and running through to Saturday.
Black Caviar won the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1200m), this year named the Platinum Jubilee Stakes, at Royal Ascot on the final day of the meeting 10 years ago.
