Shoes rolled off the rail in the home straight and opened up a dream run for Velocious. McNab drove the Written Tycoon filly through that gap and she showed her true colours, dashing to the front and winning by a length from Shoes and Pokuru Gold.
“That was great to see,” Marsh said. “We had been thinking about taking her to Australia, but we wanted a better result than that last-start run at Ellerslie to give us the confidence to have a crack at Brisbane.
“We saw a nice week of weather leading into Te Rapa and a suitable race today, and we saw how well the filly came through her last-start run. We thought, ‘Bugger it, let’s back her up and see how she goes.’ It worked out perfectly.
“She was her own worst enemy at Ellerslie. She was the first one loaded into the gates and did a lot wrong and ended up getting too far off them against a good field. I think she might also have resented the crossover nose band, which came off today.
“This performance was exactly what we were hoping to see. I briefly thought she might be hesitant to take the gap in the straight, but then she quickened through it. I think that might be a real confidence boost for her.”
Marsh is now keen to give Velocious a shot at the Queensland Winter Carnival.
“Depending on how she comes through this, there’s a race at Eagle Farm in a couple of weeks that might be worth having a really good look at,” he said.
That potential target is the A$200,000 Listed Queensland Day Stakes (1200m), for 3-year-olds at set weights, which will be run on June 7.
Velocious was bred by Inglewood Stud and offered in its draft in Book 1 of Karaka 2023, where Go Racing bought her for $190,000. She has now had 12 starts for six wins, a placing and $980,550 in stakes.
– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
