Racing: Three-year-old filly has debut win at New Plymouth, Taranaki

Leica Lucy winning at New Plymouth on Wednesday. Photo / Peter Rubery, Race Images Palmerston North

An Oaks path is being tipped for 3-year-old filly Leica Lucy following her debut win at New Plymouth on Wednesday.

Favourite Merchant Banker flew out of the gates and assumed an early lead, while jockey Joe Doyle found the rail three deep with Leica Lucy and followed the speed.

The pack swung wide when turning for home on the rain-affected surface, but Doyle elected to take the shortest way home and continued to stalk Merchant Banker, drawing level with 250m to go and Leica Lucy was able to get the better of her rival in the concluding stages to win by one-and-a-half lengths.

“It was pretty smooth,” Doyle said post-race. “She jumped nicely, I kept Merchant Banker in our sights the whole way. I thought he would be in front at the 200m and if we had the horse, we should run by.”

Local trainer Robbie Patterson has had a lot of time for the daughter of Derryn and believes she can tackle some big targets this season.

“She is a filly that has always shown us a lot,” he said. “When she was a 2-year-old, she had to have a bone chip taken out of her knee, so it has just taken a while to get her here. She has got Oaks written all over her, she is a lovely filly.”

While she handled the Soft7 surface on Wednesday, Patterson believes Leica Lucy will be better suited going over summer and early autumn.

“I think she is better on a better track,” he said. “She trialled up nicely on a Good track the other day. She is a real rangy filly who is going to take a little bit of time.

“She doesn’t carry a lot of weight, so we will just look after her and pick our way through the grades.”

Leica Lucy is out of one-win Sir Percy mare Dynamite Lucy and is raced by Taranaki breeders Peter and Heather Crofskey.

– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk