Talented filly Foxplay has underlined her class at Royal Randwick this afternoon; overcoming a black in the final straight to win the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes (1400m).
Foxplay charged home to win the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes at Randwick this afternoon. Photo: Steve Hart
Jumping from the gates well, jockey Hugh Bowman elected to settle Foxplay off the early pace of Plenty To Like, Skylight Glow and Bacarella; who ensured that the Tea Rose Stakes would be run at a healthy tempo from the outset.
Rounding onto the final straight back and with plenty to do, the Foxwedge filly completely lost momentum when she was held up by Sezanne with 300m to run, but produced an impressive kick when she found clear running to comfortably overcome her rivals.
Bowman delivered a perfectly-timed performance aboard Foxplay to help the filly into clear running and find the line, and believes she is a serious Thousand Guineas horse.
“I thought the pace was moderate and I was included to think about getting going early than I did,” Bowman said after the race.
“I felt I was on the best filly and didn’t think that necessary, but when the sprint went on I was a bit flat footed and it nearly did cost us.
“I was just able to make my way into clear running and she was very powerful in the last 100m, as she was in the Furious two weeks ago.
“She’s just got the best attitude. I’ll be honest, she snuck under my radar. I won on her in the winter and I didn’t think she was at this level.
“She just gets out of the barriers, settles beautifully in the run and I think she’ll be even better at 1600m.”
Foxplay finished a credible fifth in the Group 3 Widden Stakes (1100m) on debut in January, but was kept away from the major autumn two-year-old targets, with a view towards a spring campaign.
Having resumed this time for an impressive win in the Group 2 Furious Stakes (1200m) on September 3rd, Foxplay has now posted three wins and two minors through her seven career starts and is so-far the most successful progeny of champion sprinter Foxwedge.
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2016 Tea Rose Stakes Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | FOXPLAY | Chris Waller | Hugh Bowman | – | 3 | 56kg | $2.80F |
| 2 | 4 | SKYLIGHT GLOW | James Cummings | Glyn Schofield | 0.3L | 8 | 56kg | $10 |
| 3 | 2 | QUICK FEET | Peter & Paul Snowden | Kerrin McEvoy | 0.4L | 4 | 56kg | $31 |
| 4 | 7 | SEZANNE | Chris Waller | Craig Williams | 0.6L | 7 | 56kg | $8 |
| 5 | 10 | PLENTY TO LIKE | Stuart Webb | Blake Shinn | 0.7L | 6 | 56kg | $101 |
| 6 | 6 | GLOBAL GLAMOUR | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tommy Berry | 0.8L | 2 | 56kg | $4.40 |
| 7 | 8 | AWOKE (NZ) | Chris Waller | Brenton Avdulla | 1.6L | 5 | 56kg | $8 |
| 8 | 3 | BACARELLA | Gary Moore | Tim Clark | 1.9L | 1 | 56kg | $8.50 |
| 9 | 5 | CHIPANDA | John O’Shea | James McDonald | 2.1L | 10 | 56kg | $31 |
| 10 | 9 | A MIST OPPORTUNITY | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Christian Reith | 5.5L | 9 | 56kg | $51 |
