Ciaron Maher & Jason Collett have combined with Erno’s Cube (+260) to secure victory in the Group 2 (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The two-year-old proved too good for her fellow fillies in what is considered one of the strongest lead-up races for the girls before heading to the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) in a fortnight.
It was a perfectly timed steer by Collett, who elected to sit back for cover throughout the middle stages of the race, while drifting bookmaker favourite Too Darn Lizzie (+210) utilised her early speed to lead early.
James McDonald got the eventual runner-up Silmarillion (+360) into a lovely stalking position in the one-on-one throughout, while the Anthony Cummings-trained Extreme Diva (+650) was locked up with nowhere to go when the whips were cracking.
Silmarillion looked to have them all covered with 200m left to travel, but Too Darn Lizzie was in for the fight, as Erno’s Cube launched late to spoil both their parties, getting the head down where it mattered most.
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Stable representative Johann Gerard-Bubord was on course to discuss the win, and the Golden Slipper seems to be their next likely target.
“She is still improving physically, mentally still doing plenty wrong” said Gerrard-Bubord.
“From that gate, it was always going to be a bit tricky.
“She didn’t help herself early, once she got a bit of cover, she dropped the bridle, and it was a good effort to be able to quicken and get her nose in front.”
“We will see how she comes through it first. Obviously, the Slipper is always tempting, but the boys seem to be better than the fillies this year.
“She’d gone two weeks from the Silver Slipper, so the right thing to do would be to give her a bit of time and go to the Percy Sykes, but we’ll see how she comes through it. It’s a discussion to have, also now she is a Group Two winner.”
Jason Collett was delighted with the victory and gave full credit to the stable before discussing her Slipper chances.
“Credit to the stable and Ciaron (Maher),” said Collet.
“This is a big effort by them. She was there for the first set of trials, first two-year-old race, she’s just been in the training set-up the whole time, this is a big day for us today with her a Group Two winner.
“She’s a work in progress as we’ve been saying. She’s still a work in progress.
“She just needs to do things right and when she does it like that, when she relaxes through the middle then she can finish it off.
“She’s qualified now, so she’ll be worth a crack. She’s in form and although she still does a few things wrong, you’ll get a good tempo in the Slipper so probably won’t have to worry about that head coming up on me early.”
Erno’s Cube is currently listed as a +2500 chance with Neds bookmaker for the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) on March 23.
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