Seven Veils has been able to lead all of the way in Saturday’s Group 2 Reisling Stakes at Royal Randwick.
The Mark Newnham-trained filly booked her spot into the $5 million Golden Slipper with a dominant showing in the Reisling, fending off challenges from Ojai and Dashing Legend.
The daughter of Shalaa was rated perfectly by Kerrin McEvoy, which saw her kick clear to win by 1.8 lengths.
Race favourite Russian Conquest was disappointing in fourth, while debutant Greece was a complete flop, finishing 11.5 lengths away in last place.
“She got into a nice rhythm in front, handled the ground and she gave a nice little kick when I asked her,” McEvoy said.
“She clocked off a little bit late when she spotted the winning post. There is improvement to come, she is a nice, leggy filly.
“Whether she is up to a [Golden] Slipper remains to be seen but she handles that ground (rain affected). If I owned her, I would be having a crack.”
Seven Veils upsets the field in the Reisling Stakes!@KPMcEvoy onboard @mark_mnracing’s filly
pic.twitter.com/QzhNfXEdxp
— 7HorseRacing
The winning trainer said that Seven Veils has always shown “above-average quality” which somewhat forced his hand to come towards this race.
Prior to today’s win on a Heavy 10 track, the filly had not raced on wet track, so it was pleasing for Newnham to see her handle the conditions given the likely wet track on Golden Slipper day.
“She has always had above-average ability,” he said.
“She had a couple of early trials and pulled up shin sore after her second one, but she has come back in really good shape.
“She made a few mistakes on debut and it just cost her the win. It was our plan to come here if she had won that midweek maiden and I was buoyed by the fact the form out of the race has been quite strong and she has shown good natural improvement from her first-up run.
“Kerrin took control of the race. All I’d said to him was don’t hunt her forward, don’t drag her back, just let her be comfortable. She looked comfortable in front, and she was really strong to the line.
“Sydney autumns, they can remain pretty wet at times but look, she is a nice filly.”
Seven Veils is now a $17 chance in the Golden Slipper, firming in from $51 with most online bookmakers.
