Smart filly Fiesta kicked off her 2018 Spring Carnival campaign with an emphatic first up win in the Group 2 $200,000 Darley Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) at Randwick today.
Fiesta, above, scores a first up win in the Silver Shadow Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
From the inside barrier in the field of nine fillies, jockey Kerrin McEvoy had Fiesta ($5.50) position midfield on the fence and travelling smoothly.
McEvoy was able to bide his time until topping the rise and then eased the Chris Waller trained filly around the leader and then finished off strongly to record her second win from seven starts.
Queensland filly Outback Barbie ($3.90) from the Tony Gollan stable also hit the line hard to claim second spot ahead of the Lindsay Park trained Futooh ($7.50).
The $3.10 favourite Oohood was always well back near the tail of the field and found it hard to make up ground in the straight and finished out of a place in fifth position.
McEvoy said that Fiesta has come back in great shape and the inside gate was also going to be a huge advantage.
“She has grown up a lot and more developed and strengthened up and mentally she has grown up a bit too,” McEvoy said.
“Chris and his team have been really happy with her and she has trialled well.”
“I am not surprised that she did that today as we had a nice soft draw.”
“It was important that I used that draw and she was full of running when I asked her and was quite soft in the end.”
“She is in for a really good campaign and I was pleased to win on her today.”
Fiesta will now work her way through the Darley Princess Series with the fourth and final leg, the Group 1 $500,000 Darley Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 29 her main Spring goal.
Silver Shadow Stakes Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | FIESTA | Chris Waller | Kerrin McEvoy | 1 | 56kg | $5.50 | |||
| 2 | 4 | OUTBACK BARBIE | Tony Gollan | James McDonald | 0.3L | 2 | 55kg | $3.90 | ||
| 3 | 6 | FUTOOH | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Jason Collett | 0.7L | 4 | 55kg | $7.50 | ||
| 4 | 9 | READY TO PROPHET | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tommy Berry | 1.4L | 6 | 55kg | $16 | ||
| 5 | 3 | OOHOOD | Tony McEvoy | Tim Clark | 1.7L | 9 | 55kg | $3.10F | ||
| 6 | 2 | MERYL | Lee Curtis | Christian Reith | 2.7L | 7 | 56kg | $61 | ||
| 7 | 7 | LABURNUM | James Cummings | Glyn Schofield | 4.6L | 3 | 55kg | $17 | ||
| 8 | 5 | SECRET LADY | Gary Portelli | Ms Rachel King | 6.1L | 5 | 55kg | $14 | ||
| 9 | 8 | ADAMINA | Gerald Ryan | Jay Ford | 11.8L | 8 | 55kg | $31 |
