Classy fillies share limelight at Awapuni

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 37

Classy fillies share limelight at Awapuni

Wellington correspondent A modest crowd at the Manawatu Racing Club’s meeting at Awapuni on Saturday was rewarded with the privilege of seeing the best two and three-year-old fillies in the country. As Phillipa Rush cruised to another win in the $70,000 Bakharoff Eulogy Stakes (1600 m she did nothing at all to diminish her already high reputation. But on Saturday she had to share the honours with the two-year-old Levin filly, Sandsend, which overcame a host of problems to win the $20,000 Fairdale Futurity (1100 m from the hot favourite, Milton Magic. Sandsend looked beaten as Milton Magic cruised up on the turn, but in the straight the little Kingdom .Bay filly showed ample courage as she went on to beat Milton Magic by a half-length. As she returned to scale, blood on her hind legs was noticeable and yesterday her Levin trainer, Grant Searle, confirmed that she had cuts in both bind legs. He believed' that she had probably struck

herself. A $25,000 Magic Million buy at Trentham last January, Sandsend will return there on January 20 for the SIM Magic Million Classic (1200 m The win on Saturday was her third from three attempts. She won at her debut at Woodville and also took the Wellesley Stakes at Trentham. Sandsend may go into the Classic without another run. Searle has always had the $30,000 Magic Millions Preview (1000 m at Tauherenikau on January 2 on her programme, but with her Fairdale win lifting her to third in the qualifying list, she should not need to race there now. “At the moment I’m tossing up whether or not I’ll go to Tauherenikau.” Searle .will also talk to his blacksmith about shoeing the filly so that she does not strike herself. He works Sandsend in bandages, but is not keen to race her using them. Certainly Searle and his rider, Phillip Mercer, cannot wait for Trentham to come. It was a good day all round for both men.

Searle and Mercer combined to get Don’t Tell home in the ÜBS Handicap and Mercer completed a treble for the day when he rode Star Dream to win the Wadham Goodman Handicap (1600 m and in the process gave Arthur Williams’ private trainer, Russell Jenkins, his first win in that role. Phillipa Rush has now established a big lead in the Wrightson Filly of the Year Series and only Erudite or Madame Bardot loom as serious threats. More light on that will come after Phillipa Rush heads to Ellerslie on January 2 for the $70,000 Wrightson Royal Stakes (2000 m It will be her first test beyond 1600 m and her owner-trainer, Jim Campin, is not keen to test the filly against the older horses yet. Against opponents she has already beaten handsomely, Phillipa Rush might make a good fist of 2000 m at Ellerslie. On Saturday her biggest lead was at the finish when she had a three lengths break over Erudite. Her rider, Lance O’Sullivan, did a good job ■

holding the filly together and if she settles that well at Ellerslie, it will certainly make her job of running the extra 400 m out much easier. The big race in the Filly of the Year series is the $250,000 New Zealand Oaks (2400 m at Trentham on January 22, but Campin said on Saturday that it was highly unlikely Phillipa Rush would start in that race. This season Phillipa Rush has won the Cavanagh Stakes, the Lowland Stakes, the One Thousand Bayer Classic and now the Eulogy. In all she has 10 wins from 11 starts and $697,900 in stakes. The Waverley filly Erudite made a game bid. Just for a few seconds she gave her connections hope as she loomed up at the top of the straight, but in the closing stages Phillipa Rush was too good. The camp had hoped to put more pressure on Phillipa Rush, but prerace plans went astray when Erudite missed the start by three lengths. Erudite heads to Ellerslie for the Royal Stakes and she should gain some advantage over her rival with the extra distance.