3 minute read
Trainer and jockey quotes after the Group 3 The TAB Vanity at Flemington on Saturday taken out by Grinzinger Belle.
Race Result:
1st: Grinzinger Belle (D Lane/D O'Brien) - $12
2nd: French Endeavour (M Dee/M Smith) - $18
3rd: Mollynickers (B Melham/P Moody & K Coleman) - $4.60F
Winning Time: 1:22.35 Last 600m: N/A
Margins: 1¼L x Nose
Tough!
— Racing.com (@Racing) February 17, 2024
Grinzinger Belle went to the front from the wide barrier & never looked back @DOBrienRacing @LaneDamian pic.twitter.com/Wavsf8I57D
Winning Trainer: Danny O'Brien
"She was good in the spring and just got beaten on Cox Plate Day in a three-year-old fillies Group 2, and trialled up well.
"We had her forward enough to run well but when I was watching those sectionals and they were running 10.9, 11 and a tick, 11 and a tick, you're always never sure how much petrol was going to be left in the end there but fair play to her, she was solid right down the running and it was a very good win.
What they learnt over the summer: "She is a very big filly and she was always going to be better as she got that strength to carry the frame but she has been a straightforward filly by a horse we trained, Shamexpress, who ran second in the Lightning here ten years ago.
"It is good to come back with a daughter of his and win on the same day."
Does he think she can get beyond 2000m: "I doubt it. I think she is 1400 (metres) to a mile with a strong on-speed filly at that distance. I don't think she is a genuine stayer."
Australian Guineas option: "She is more likely to stay amongst the fillies in three weeks time in the Kewney and then we're back to Moonee Valley for another fillies races. There's two good Group races for her in Melbourne."
Winning Jockey: Damian Lane
"She's come back in great order. She trialled up really nicely and she's furnished into a lovely nig filly now.
"There was always a frame there for that in the spring but she didn't quite have the physical substance and she seems to have furnished.
"It was a great win today and hopefully that won't be her last win this autumn.
In the run: "I thought I'd done a little bit much but I just had to bite the bullet early and make a decision. I was going to be posted (wide) and working anyway so I might as well have gone forward and find the rails.
"She's a very high cruising speed horse and it was just whether she was going to be able to sustain those sectionals first-up."
