After a pair of luckless placings from wide barriers, New Zealand-bred mare Elettrica (NZ) (Vespa) turned things around at Rosehill on Saturday and set herself up for a potential black-type winter campaign in Queensland.
The five-year-old daughter of Vespa went into Saturday’s A$120,000 Midway Handicap (1500m) as a three-time winner from 27 starts. She had placed on another 13 occasions, including unlucky Midway Handicap second placings at Rosehill and Randwick in her previous two appearances.
Elettrica finally landed a single-digit draw for Saturday’s race, jumping from gate four, and apprentice jockey Molly Bourke gave her a handy run in sixth along the rail.
There were a few anxious moments when Elettrica was held up for a run at the 300m mark, but Bourke picked a path through. Elettrica quickly eased those nerves with a slick turn of foot, bursting to the lead and opening up an emphatic margin of three and a half lengths.
Trainers Richard and Will Freedman will now look to raise the bar with the Tricolours Racing-owned mare, who has banked more than A$300,000 in stakes.
“I’m now starting to think that the more bad barriers a horse has, maybe the more seasoned they get to overcoming them,” Will Freedman said. “I’ve got to take that approach now.
“She deserved to have a nice run in transit today, and she got that. It got a little sticky at the 300m, and it looked like Molly wasn’t quite sure which way she was going to go. But she was patient, and then the horse was good enough to break through.
“I think she’s earned about $200,000 just from Midway Handicaps now, but I’d say that might be her last one for a while. I think she’s ready for a step up. I had a brief chat with the owners before this race and said that if she won today, she might go for a freshen up and then we can think about chasing a bit of black-type during the Brisbane carnival.”
Elettrica commenced her career in New Zealand and initially raced for breeder Kevin Hickman, winning two of her eight starts for Stephen Autridge and Kris Shailer.
Out of the More Than Ready mare On The Move, Elettrica is a half-sister to the multiple black-type winner Chantilly Lace (NZ) (U S Navy Flag).
Elettrica was purchased for $51,000 by James Moss from the Valachi Downs Dispersal Sale on Gavelhouse Plus in 2022.
