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Hela Remains Unbeaten

3 minute read

Star three-year-old filly Hela kept her unbeaten record intact when she delivered another flawless display to win a benchmark 74 handicap over 1400m in Hobart on Sunday.

HELA.
HELA. Picture: Tas Racing

Hela ($1.07 fav) is unbeaten from six starts and she only needs to take care of business one more time in Tasmania in three weeks to take an unbeaten record of seven wins into her main assignment, the $500,000 Australasian Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville in South Australia on 1 May.

The filly showed her normal early brilliance to lead and jockey David Pires stayed quiet on the daughter of Night of Thunder to the home turn where he gave her a little more rein that saw her extend the lead.

Pires started to ease up on the filly 100m from home otherwise the winning margin would have been far greater than 3-1/2 lengths.

The filly's trainer Scott Brunton said Hela has always shown above average ability, but it was after she won the Thousand Guineas (1600m) that he started to believe she was Group material.

"When you have horses come through the system that show good ability you get a bit excited for the horse and the owners, but this filly had that something extra special from day one," Brunton said.

"After she won the Thousand Guineas the natural progression was to try her over 2100m in the Strutt Stakes and maybe then head to the Oaks, but after the Strutt Stakes win, I made the tough decision to pull up stumps and aim her higher than the Tassie Oaks.

"I penciled in the Australasian Oaks in Adelaide over 2000m and mapped out a race program and today she ticked the first box.

"We go to a BM84 over 1600m back here at Elwick in three weeks and if she wins that and pulls up well, we head to Adelaide for her main target two weeks later."

Pires declared the filly has never raced better.

"This filly is genuinely one out of the box," Pires said.

"I've sat on some good ones but I'm sure this filly is Group 1 quality."


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