Henry Dwyer’s Leotie remains on a Thousand Guineas path after winning at Bendigo on Thursday.
Despite racing on a Heavy 10, the filly was able to win by a nose against the older horses, and Dwyer said post-race he was pleased with how she was able to settle over the 1400m.
“Panic stations a little bit there for one stage but once she got out in the clear and the better going she sort of let down well enough to win,” Dwyer said.
“I think the main positive to take out of it is how well she’s settling, being a filly we’ve done a lot of work trying to get her to settle.”
The Caulfield trainer is confident at a more genuine tempo she will be cherry ripe for the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield on October 8.
“The risk was that we’d have her have a gut-buster for Saturday week, but I don’t think that’s the case, I think she’s come through it alright,” Dwyer added.
WATCH: Leotie’s win
Back to her own age group and sex Dwyer said he’s thinks she’ll be right there in the finish.
“She was always going to need a run, she hadn’t done a lot coming into the day, but I think it will top her off well,” he said.
Leotie, who is currently a $9 chance for the fillies feature, missed the Thousand Guineas Prelude last Saturday due to a respiratory infection.
But jockey Chris Parnham is confident that when she’s back on Good going and up to a mile, she’ll be hard to beat.
“She was against older horses and had we been on better ground I would have thought she’d out them away pretty easy,” he said.
Parnham agreed that she’ll perform strongly back against her own sex.
“I think she’s a horse with a lot of upside and a lot of ability,” he said.
“It’s probably not an ideal run to have into a Thousand Guineas but she had to go this way and she was still good enough to get the job done.”
– racing.com
