A tough week for Hastings trainer John Bary was made a whole lot better on Saturday by the emphatic win of Miss Selby in the group three Lowland Stakes at her home track, solidifying her favouritism for the New Zealand Oaks at Trentham in two weeks' time.
Already looking ruefullyat the countdown to Derby Day in Auckland and wondering what might have been with Hong Kong-bound Franzac, Bary then had to farewell group one star Survived. The 4-year-old was transferred to the stable of fellow Hawke's Bay trainer Kelly Burne, who broke in the Zed gelding a few years ago.
But ups and downs can alternate in quick succession in the roller-coaster world of racing, and Saturday brought another triumph. Having already won all three spring group one features so far in his short training career, as well as the Hawke's Bay Guineas and Hawke's Bay Gold Cup, Bary added the Lowland Stakes to his list of home-track successes. And it came courtesy of a runaway performance from Miss Selby.
The O'Reilly filly was always going to thrive over distances beyond a mile. After a solid second to the exceptional Spellbinder in what, with hindsight, was a star-studded maiden race at Taupo in early September, then a maiden win next time out, Miss Selby produced a pair of flying finishes to come second in the Eulogy Stakes and Desert Gold Stakes. Each time she devoured the winner's margin over the closing stages and gave the impression that she would have gone sailing past with a few more metres worth of ground.
On Saturday she got the chance to prove it, stepping up to 2100m for the first time. And it couldn't have gone any better. While chief rival Chop Chop was trapped wide early and had to work forward into an uncustomary on-pace position, Miss Selby was sitting pretty in a beautiful spot.
And as the field swung for home a big gap appeared right in front of her along the inside. She shot through and opened up a big margin. Miss Mossman tried hard to run her down, but Miss Selby was away and the Lowland Stakes was over. Miss Mossman held second, while Miss Selby's stablemate Far Fetched made good late ground to take third.
Miss Selby has now had six starts for two wins and four placings, and her earnings sit just shy of $80,000.
