3 minute read
Lightly raced mare Red Letter Lady looks set for a big campaign after scoring an impressive first-up win in the Unique Doors & Windows Benchmark 66 Handicap over 1150m in Devonport on Sunday.
In Brief
- Red Letter Day impresses first-up.
- Mare's issues have to be managed.
- Aspirations to tackle feature mares' weight-for-age races.
The Bill Ryan-trained mare had not raced since finishing near last in the 3&4YO Tasmanian Magic Millions Classic in February.
But two trials against the state's two best mares Mystic Journey and Still Star had the five-year-old primed for a first-up win.
"She trialled well against the state's two best mares in Mystic Journey and Still A Star leading up to this race so you would have thought she'd be very competitive and that's how it played out," Ryan said.
"This mare is only a class three horse, but I expect her to progress far enough this prep to be competitive enough to tackle the feature mares' races during the summer carnival."
Ryan expects to step the mare through the grades and hopefully head to races such as the weight Bow Mistress and the Vamos Stakes.
"She has been quite a handful all the way through because she is an asthmatic and spends a lot of time on a nebulizer and this time of the year is the worst with the pollen count extremely high.
"But we are able to manage her issues and if she progresses as I hope she will, then there is a good race in her this time in."
