Ciaron Maher & David Eustace and John Allen have combined with Affaire A Suivre to take out the Group 1 Australasian Oaks atMorphettville over the fast finishing She’s Fit and Jennilala.
After taking out the Listed Port Adelaide Guineas last start over 1800m, this three-year-old filly was one of the favoured runners, jumping as the second favourite at $8 with online bookmakers, and she proved it with a very strong finish over the top of the leaders in the final 100m of the event.
This filly was given the “visitors draw” of barrier 16 of 16, however, Allen didn’t panic and just let her settle out wide, before making a sustained run from the 600m mark and even with all those factors against her, Affaire A Suivre proved too good at the end of the 2000m Group 1.
This daughter of Astern has now won a Listed race and Group 1 race in back-to-back starts in her second racing preparation and has given Ciaron Maher & David Eustace and John Allen their first victory in the race.
2023 Australasian Oaks Replay – Affaire A Suivre
After his first success in the Australasian Oaks, Ciaron Maher spoke post-race about his filly’s victory.
“We always didn’t mind her, but you can see that she’s a big scopey filly and she just needed that time, and she has really come into her own this preparation,” Maher said of his filly and her progression this campaign.
“She put the writing on the wall last start.
“We had the visitors draw in barrier 18, but Jonny (Allen) – I’ll have to watch it again – but he did cover a fair bit of ground.
“I think she’s got a really bright future and I think she’ll probably go further, and she may even end up in Queensland.”
John Allen picked up his first winner on Australasian Oaks Day aboard Affaire A Suivre, while he has continued his Group 1 dominance over in South Australia.
“First and foremost, I’d like to dedicate that to Dean Holland and his family, it was three years ago down here that I became close friends with him,” Allen said.
“We had to isolate together during COVID with his young family… and we really became good friends from then and you couldn’t have picked a better family to spend two weeks locked up in a house with.
“It’s hard to think and believe that he is gone, and it’s just a hard one to take.
“It was a good tough effort, and I wasn’t sure I had won crossing the line, but when I was coming back someone told me I had.
“We were caught on a limb early, but we were able to get in three-wide and get a rest mid-race, but we still had to get going early and get going.
“She’s done a good tough effort to hold on and I was quite impressed with her two weeks’ ago, so I was confident coming here and it all worked out.”
Affaire A Suivre is now a $12 chance in the futures market for the Queensland Oaks with online betting sites.
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