Step back gents, Ladies First
When the going gets tough the tough get going and Ladies First definitely deserves her tough girl tag.
She had every excuse to get beaten in Saturday’s Group I Auckland Cup (3200m) but Ladies First was so resolute in victory that her connections are now eyeing the Melbourne Cup.
Ladies First’s New Plymouth trainer Allan Sharrock, who also won the 2012 Auckland Cup with Shez Sinsational, revealed a possible tilt at the A$6.25 million ($6.74m NZD) Group I Melbourne Cup (3200m) in November following the win.
Ladies First clinched the Cup by defeating Five To Midnight by a nose in a photo finish so close, most on track at Ellerslie thought the Lisa Latta-trained Five To Midnight would get the nod.
In the stands, Sharrock thought he had run second and Latta thought she had won but they were both wrong. The victory was good but it was the way Ladies First won that has her connections excited. In her first two-mile start, Ladies First had a torrid run after being caught three wide for the first half of the race. Her jockey Johnathan Parkes was able to secure a spot one off the rail down the back straight but was again pushed wide on the final bend.
Ladies First had every reason to fade late but after being headed by Five To Midnight, she dug in again to put her nose in front right on the line.
Ladies First’s $300,000 payday for winning the $500,000 Auckland Cup takes her career earnings to $480,760.00. She is raced by Humphrey and Fiona O’Leary – part-owners of Melbourne Cup veteran Who Shot Thebarman.
Following her win, Sharrock confirmed Ladies First would not be heading to the Sydney Cup on April 14 – a race she had been nominated for.
Instead, Sharrock would send her for a spell and contemplate the possibility of a Melbourne Cup start. The daughter of Dylan Thomas out of Just Polite was purchased for just $8000 from the
2014 National Weanling, Broodmare and Mixed sales.
Ladies First’s victory was the first Auckland Cup success for Parkes. He picked up the ride when regular rider Vinnie Colgan was suspended. Ladies First has now won nine of her 16 starts with two seconds and a third.
● Sword Of Osman has taken pole position in the race for this season’s champion two-year-old honours.
The slick son of Savabeel went to the top of the juvenile rankings when he produced another powerful front-running performance to win Saturday’s
Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie off the back of his runaway success in the Gr.3 Slipper (1200m). Trained by Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, Sword of Osman has now won three of his four starts with his sole defeat coming in the Karaka Million (1200m).
Meanwhile Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman are likely to be scouring Australian racing programmes for Saint Emilion following the grand front-runner’s career-best performance in the
Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) on Saturday.