SYDNEY STRUT
MARE’S NEXT TEST
A TRIP to Sydney could be on the cards for Darktown Strutter after a third straight win at the Gold Coast.
Trainer Kelly Schweida said he would consider taking the four-year-old mare to either Warwick Farm or Rosehill for her next start if the right races presented themselves after Darktown Strutter won Saturday’s Class 6 Plate (900m) at Aquis Park.
“If the right race came up at Warwick Farm or Rosehill, something like that, I’d take her there,” Schweida said.
It took Darktown Strutter’s record to seven wins from 11 runs, with five of those victories coming on the Gold Coast.
“We have been teaching her to ride a little bit off the speed and we knew there was a lot of speed inside us,” Schweida said.
“She is still learning but she loves this track, loves the hard surfaces.
“Any spit on the ground and she is useless. I’m really pleased with her and at least she is getting off the speed now and getting into the line.
“It was a really hot race. She has a good record.”
Schweida said he wasn’t surprised by Darktown Strutter’s early success and said he was still unsure how much more scope she had to improve.
“She has always run sensational times here and shown something from day one,” Schweida said.
“(Saturday) was the first time she has got back in the field and we have been doing that in all the jumpouts and trials and she has found the line.”
Star jockey Jeff Lloyd was on board for his third straight win with the filly, who he believed benefited from having nearly a month between her last run.
“She is better ridden a little bit cold,” Lloyd said.
“She has got a nice kick and she still did a few things wrong up the straight, trying to run in behind horses, but she is putting a good record together.”