Leon & Troy Corstens and Will Larkin have combined with Ben Allen to take out the Group 2 Tristarc Stakes (1400m) as Lady In Pink ($17) proved too good for her rivals in the 1400m contest at Caulfield on Saturday afternoon.
The daughter of Pariah landed in a perfect position behind the speed from barrier two, and Allen allowed his mount to settle behind Revolutionary Miss ($4.60), Tiz Invincible ($23) and Seonee ($23), who set a solid tempo.
Allen stayed close to the inside rail and once the leaders started to get off the fence, he was presented with a perfect run behind Revolutionary Miss and the mare drove through to take over at the 150m mark.
Revolutionary Miss tried to fight back on the eventual winner’s outside, but she couldn’t stay with Lady In Pink, who held on to claim a tough win, while Miss Aria ($4.80) ran home nicely down the middle of the track to finish in third place.
2024 Tristarc Stakes replay – Lady In Pink
Troy Corstens represented the stable in the post-race interview.
“I was (thinking she has Group ability). Because she’s got a tremendous amount of talent and we backed off her, stopped, and then I thought we need to get her into the spring,” Corstens said.
“I honestly thought the 1400 (metres) was going to be a little bit too short for her again today but we had her nice and fresh going into it and she’s done a marvelous job.
“Well, it was good, actually, because she can hit a flat spot sometimes and she did that at Flemington, and then the other two fillies got past her, and she was good to the line, and I kind of thought, I hope we’re doing the right thing, keeping her at 1400 but as it turned out, we did.
“I think we’re going to have a crack at the Empire Rose.
“Yeah, she’s just, the whole way along, she’s just continued to improve, and I wanted to see her do something like this today before we set that in motion. And now that she’s done that, I think we’re going to have a crack.”
Ben Allen was elated the win of Lady In Pink post-race.
“Yeah, she was super. Yeah, her first- up run I thought was good off a steady tempo and being back,” Allen said.
“She had a bit of a flat spot but the spot I was in today I was able to build and the race kind of worked out on our terms and we were in a winning spot.
“Yeah, she’s got good soft track form, and yeah, just the whole way she travelled today, I felt confident, but I still remember they said she got that flat spot, so that was my only concern, but it wasn’t a worry today.
“Yeah, she was sharp, credit to Leon, Troy, Will, all their staff, they’ve done a massive job for these horses.
“This horse obviously got the form and they’ve always had confidence. It’s good to be getting rewards for them.”
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