Stuart Webb will push along plans to chase Oaks glory with emerging stayer Coral Coast after the filly secured black-type at only her fourth career run in Saturday’s Gloaming Stakes (1800m) at Rosehill.
The daughter of So You Think raced handy to the speed and stuck on gamely over the final two furlongs to run third behind Sydney colts Ace High and Sanctioned in the Group 3 contest.
Webb was thrilled with the performance and confirmed the filly would continue on a path towards the $1 million Kennedy Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 9, with the Group 3 Caulfield Classic (2000m), Group 3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) and Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) among her interim options.
“She is a really well-bred filly so to get black-type next to her name this early is a big thrill,” Webb said.
“She’s a filly that, for a long time now, we thought we’d have her on an Oaks preparation and the run yesterday (Saturday) well and truly puts her on that path.”
Webb was also stoked with the home-track performance of Legless Veuve who overcame a tardy beginning, interference in the home straight and a thrown shoe to run second in the Group 3 How Now Stakes (1200m), a nose adrift of winner Savanna Amour.
While she boasts a Stakes win over 1400m last season, Webb hinted that the daughter of Pins could be kept to six furlong races this spring in an attempt to prolong her campaign.
“She had the bar shoes on yesterday (Saturday) and pulled one off so that wasn’t ideal but she seems to have come through the run well,” he said.
“She slipped out of the gates behind and then was slow away after that so she got back a lot further than we expected, we thought she’d either be outside the leader or behind the leader.
“To see her finish off the last 100m like that was terrific.
“There’s the Tristarc Stakes and a couple of other races there but she just feels her feet a little bit and the less work I have to get into her, the better, so we might be better off keeping her to sprint trips.”
– racing.com
