Females team for filly’s Oaks success

Girl power was to the fore at Trentham on Saturday as trainer Lisa Latta and jockey Lisa Allpress fittingly joined forces as $21 outsider Sentimental Miss landed the Gr.1 NZ Oaks (2400m) at Trentham.

Latta said the addition of blinkers was the key to extracting the best out of the daughter of Reliable Man, who is raced by the Go Racing Yesteryear Syndicate.

‘‘It’s absolutely fantastic,’’ Latta said. ‘‘We walked away from the Lowland [ninth over 2100m, Gr.2] wondering whether we should press on or not, but we decided to put the blinkers on today and I think that has made a huge difference.

The attractive grey filly made use of her inside draw (barrier 2), withAllpress finding a spot three-back on the fence.

‘‘I was quite confident,’’ Allpress said.

‘‘We were just getting a lovely run, she was very relaxed and first time in blinkers. I was conscious of Murray Baker’s horses [Rubira and Queen Of Diamonds] in front of me and they started dragging me into the run but they were under the bat.

‘‘I thought I need to be a bit more patient but when it got to the top of the straight patience went out the window but she just kept fighting.’’

The win was the sixth at Group One level for Allpress and provided another elite level success for Albert Bosma’s Go Racing syndications.

A $40,000 graduate of The Oaks Stud’s draft at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Select Yearling Sale, Sentimental Miss becomes the first Group One winner for young Westbury Stud sire Reliable Man.

Sentimental Miss prevailed by a length and a quarter from the Bill Thurlow-trained Beyond The Fort, while third placegetter outsider Star Karen was brave after covering ground throughout.

Inside barriers played a key role with three of the first four runners home drawn in barriers one, two and three.

❚ Meanwhile an emotional Kevin Hughes was pleasantly surprised to get the judges call in his favour when his filly Emily Margaret prevailed in a tight finish to the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m).

The Riccarton horseman, who trains in partnership with his wife Pam, fought back tears as his thoughts turned to the victims of the Christchurch mosque terrorist attack, an atrocity committed in his home patch.

‘‘It’s unbelievable, I thought we were second,’’ Kevin Hughes said.

‘‘It’s great for her and great for the South Island. We’ve had a terrible time down there. This is fantastic.’’

A last-start all-the-way winner of the Listed NZB Insurance Stakes (1400m), Emily Margaret showed she was no one-trick pony when coming from well off the pace.

‘‘She tries hard and there are not many times she hasn’t fronted up,’’ Hughes said.

‘‘She missed the start today and I thought ‘Oh dear’, but she just stormed home. She did that second-up this year over 1000m but that was huge.

‘‘It was a strong race and there were some very nice horses in the race. I thought there were half a dozen horses that could win it.’’

NZ Racing Desk