Need A Queen comes up aces
WELL- BRED two- year- old filly Need A Queen broke her maiden status with a narrow victory in a 2YO Handicap over 1220m in Launceston yesterday.
The half-sister to former star sprinter Lady Lynette had been racing in maidens against older and more experienced opposition, but back to her own age group gave her trainer John Blacker the confidence to have a decent bet.
Need A Queen (Needs Further-Queen’s Own) was backed in from $13 with some fixed odds bookmakers to start a clear second elect at $4.40
In an evenly run race Need A Queen settled just off the speed but held the rail while the favourite My Biddy ($2.70) raced on her outside with Gee Gee Cats three-wide without cover to the home turn.
My Biddy looked the likely winner halfway up the home straight when she edged clear, but Need A Queen refused to wilt and fought back to defeat the favourite by a half-head with Windrider ($8) just over a length astern.
If there was a hard luck story from the race it belonged to Remigny ($15 into $11), which was searching for a clear run behind the leaders most of the way up the home straight.
“I was very confident this filly would run a big race because she has been competitive against older horses at recent starts and back to her own age group was a step down in grade as far as I was concerned,” Blacker said.
“I told the owners to have a bet because I saw it as a very winnable race for her and while she didn’t win by much we got the desired result.
“I expect this filly to develop into a very nice horse next season so she’ll go for a spell now and I’ll bring her back for a couple of the better threeyear-old races early in the new season.” CLASSY mare Merrick’s Beauty returned to her best form with a strong win in a benchmark 72 handicap over 1220m.
Poor recent form led to Merrick’s Beauty starting the rank outsider ($23).
But she won like a favourite, scoring by more than a length from Nielson ($2.30 fav) with the well-backed Caffeine Hit ($3.90 into $3.30) two lengths away third. The winner is trained by Alana Fulton who said the discovery of a foot problem had been the reason why the mare had lost all form.
“We discovered she had a problem with her front feet but she’s been a different horse since we had the problem treated,” Fulton said. “The soft track today also helped because of the issues she’s had with the soles of her feet.
“Chris Cornes, who works with the local [Longford] vet Mike Morris, identified the problem so we owe him a lot and we have had Jason Maskiell riding the mare in trackwork lately so he needs to take some credit for her return to form.”
“We’ll more than likely keep her racing now that she’s regained form but we’ll just take it a race at a time.”