A Cranbourne Classic ‘crown’ awaits ‘Queen Qwara’

Victoria’s leading trainer Andrea Dailly made a ‘clean sweep’ of the G3 Cranbourne Classic heats (520m) this afternoon.

Anakie-based Dailly snared all three heats, led by Australia’s sprint queen Qwara Bale.

Contesting Heat 3, Qwara Bale ($1.80F) led from go-to-whoa before holding off a late rally by Hill Top Jack ($3.40) by 0.9L in a flying 29.90sec.

Lala Ivory ($15.10), also trained by Dailly, was third only 2L from her kennelmate. She also qualified for next week’s final, giving Dailly a four-pronged challenge in the $25,000 to-the-winner event.

Qwara Bale – winner of the G1 Sapphire Crown, G1 Maturity Classic and G2 Warrnambool Cup – recorded her 20th win from 34 starts.

Lil Dickie Oaks winner Lala Kiwi got the Dailly juggernaut rolling, upstaging ‘next big thing’ Koblenz in Heat 1.

In fact, she turned the tables on Koblenz who defeated her in the Pink Diamond Rookie Sprinter final at Bendigo. (Lala Kiwi was fourth in the race.)

Lala Kiwi ($5.20) notched her 10th win from 24 starts. She accounted for Koblenz ($1.90F) – who had won 12 of his past 15 starts – by 3.3L in a smart 30.04sec.

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Only 15 minutes later, Shima Classic ($5.60) – a finalist in the G1 Australian Cup and G1 Sapphire Crown (3rd) – provided Dailly with another finalist when successful in Heat 2.

Shima Classic – a younger half-sister of recently retired superstar Shima Shine – registered her 11th win from 29 starts.

She staved off the whirlwind finish of Keep It Black ($9.80) by 0.1L, with Aston Fastnet ($1.30F) a further 2.9L away third in a slick 29.99sec.

Lara trainer David Geall has qualified litter brothers Koblenz and Hill Top Jack for the final.

Meanwhile, the $5000 to-the-winner Cranbourne Sprint final (311m) was taken out by exciting prospect Aston Geneve ($2.50) in a sizzling 17.55sec.

Her winning time was just under 3L off the 17.38sec track record, set twice in 2015 by Mighty Sprite – September 23 & November 11.

Trained at Pearcedale by Jacqui Greenough, the superbly bred Aston Geneve (Apr ’19 KC And All x Secret Spell) is unbeaten from only four starts – all over this track/distance.

2021 G3 CRANBOURNE CLASSIC, 520M
Saturday 21 August
$25,000 (1^st); $7,000 (2^nd); $3,500 (3^rd)

1 QWARA BALE (Andrea Dailly, Anakie)
2 LALA IVORY (Andrea Dailly, Anakie)
3 ASTON FASTNET (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale)
4 LALA KIWI (Andrea Dailly, Anakie)
5 HILL TOP JACK (David Geall, Lara)
6 KEEP IT BLACK (Angela Langton, Anakie)
7 KOBLENZ (David Geall, Lara)
8 SHIMA CLASSIC (Andrea Dailly, Anakie)

Reserves
9 PLAN AHEAD (Angela Langton, Anakie)
10 WEBLEC BLAZER (Angela Langton, Anakie)

HEAT WINNERS
(fastest to slowest)