Going up against the more-fancied Troach and English Riviera, Queen Of The Ball showed her tenacity to prevail from start to finish in the $200,000 Scarborough Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday night.
Expertly ridden by star jockey Blake Shinn, the three-year-old jumped to the front inside the first 200m from barrier seven while finding the rail, because Shinn knew Michael Freedman’s sprinter had the heart to be a frontrunner and prevail.
And the $5.50 chance with Ladbrokes did it easy, beating Troach ($2.80) by 1.5 lengths.
“She’s a really talented filly – high speed, tenacious, ran in the Slipper,” Shinn told racing.com.
“We owned the race from the start, used her speed and once I got control at the front I thought she’s going to be hard to run down because I was able to back off mid-race.
“And then I ramped it up. That’s one of her best assets, her fighting spirit. When I got that breather mid-race, I put it to Craig (Williams on Troach) on my outside and the best horse won the race.”
Shinn said Freedman could aim Queen Of The Ball at the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on October 29 after Friday night’s classy performance.
“She’s got a good fighting spirit. She was strong at 1200, and who knows where she might end up?” Shinn said.
“Michael might go to a Coolmore or might aim a little bit lower. But I think she’s a filly of high quality.