Patience pays for Blacker
FORMER Sires Produce Stakes winner Triple Strip returned to winning form with a resounding victory in a class three handicap over 1350m in Devonport yesterday.
The John Blacker-trained four-year-old mare was having only her second start this preparation after having spent nine months in the racing wilderness through illness and injury.
“It’s so good to see her back racing in this sort of form because she showed so much potential as a youngster but suffered some illness and had a couple of little injuries that have kept her sidelined,” Blacker said.
“We’ve been very patient and I’m confident that patience will pay off this season.
“She won the Sires Produce at two, and last season we were hoping she would be a contender in some of the 3YO fillies’ races but sadly she missed those. This time in, she is really well in herself and loving her racing, so while we have her in that frame of mind she is going to be competitive in whatever she runs in.”
The daughter of Needs Further won a 2YO maiden and the Sires Produce as a juvenile and last season she resumed with a class two win in Launceston, then a minor placing before having to be spelled after she ran last in a field of eight.
Yesterday she was always travelling comfortably for rider Craig Newitt, who had her settled midfield and ready to pounce when they hit the home straight. Need a Margarita ($6) led but was collared by Ethical Dilemma ($4.40) in the home straight, but when Newitt eased his mare four-wide to challenge she knuckled down to her task and went on to score by a half-length from Ethical Dilemma, with Need a Margarita more than three lengths away third. GEE GEE DOUBLE DEE made the most of a small field of three to make a winning return to racing in a benchmark 82 handicap over 1150m.
In a race that boasted very little in terms of wagering turnover, Gee Gees Jet ($3.90) l ed as expected with the favourite O’Lonh Star ($2.10) camped on his heels to the home turn, with Gee Gee Double Dee ($2.80) settled last and about three lengths off the leader. O’Lonh Star moved alongside the leader halfway up the home straight and rider Brendon McCoull looked confident as his charge forged to the lead. But when apprentice Scarlet So called on Gee Gee Double Dee for an effort, she picked up the favourite and went on to win comfortably.
The winner’s trainer, Leon Wells, was pleased with the win and said the mare had returned to racing as expected. “I know it was only a field of three, but this mare always had them covered and she finished it off as I expected,” Wells said.
“It was a terrific first- up effort and I expect her to go on and be very competitive in races like the Newmarket and the Bow Mistress but primarily races over up to 1200 metres.”