Star Tasmanian filly Hot Dipped will be given another chance to win her first race in Melbourne after going agonisingly close at Caulfield on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hot Dipped was beaten by a nose in the $100,000 Henry Dwyer Racing Handicap, ironically going down to another Tasmanian-bred filly, Moonlites Choice.
Trainer Brendan McShane will stick to his plan to bring Hot Dipped home on Tuesday night but, all going well, she will return to Victoria in four weeks.
McShane is hoping a change of venue will bring a change of luck, as he has selected a 1400-metre benchmark 84 mares’ race at Flemington.
“It will be nice to see her at another track where we’ll get the chance to ride her patiently,” the trainer said.
“She ran well against the boys at Flemington as a two-year-old (finishing fifth in the VRC Sires Produce).”
McShane said he took no negatives out of Hot Dipped’s first-up run when the filly raced a little wide before hitting the front in the home straight.
“I thought it was a good ride (by apprentice Brandon Stockdale) and a good effort by the filly in a fast-run race,” the trainer said.
“She was actually in front again just after the line.
“It’s always difficult to win at Caulfield and, as so many people do, we ran into the Weir factor.
“Darren Weir’s horses are so hard to beat we probably should be grateful we ran second.”
Hot Dipped’s conqueror Moonlites Choice was sold for $20,000 by Armidale Stud at the 2015 Magic Millions Sale in Launceston.
Her Ballarat owner John Richards left her in Tasmania and she made a winning debut for Longford trainer John Blacker at Mowbray in June last year.
She then went straight to Victoria to join the Weir stable and has since won at Bendigo, Kyneton, Swan Hill and now Caulfield.
Moonlites Choice is by Bushranger from the Savoire Vivre mare Phyl’s Choice who won three races for Spreyton trainer Leon Wells at Devonport, Hobart and Kyneton.
Phyl’s Choice is a full sister to Devonport Cup winner With Decorum.
TASMANIA’S quest for Victorian winter prizemoney will continue at Sandown on Wednesday.
Brighton trainer Paul Maher will have two runners in a $40,000 mares’ race over 1400m, with Miss It And A Bit to be ridden by Stephanie Thornton and Miss Hissy by Siggy Carr.
Former Scott Brunton-trained horses Streetwise Savoire and Demons Run are also engaged at the meeting.
Their new trainer Patrick Payne is bringing Tasmanian apprentice Raquel Clark from Adelaide to ride the duo and claim 3kg.
Clark won on the Payne-trained Hussy’s Glow at Morphettville last month at her first ride for the trainer.