Sam Spratt's pre-race confidence in the
progressive Dalghar (Fr) filly Blue Shadow at Te Rapa wasn't misplaced.
The Pukekohe-based jockey fancied her chances of toppling a competitive field
of three-year-olds in Saturday's Distinction Hamilton Hotel 1200 and so it
proved.
Blue Shadow jumped smartly from an inside gate to make the running and Spratt
didn't have to get overly-busy aboard the grey daughter of Brighthill Farm's promising young sire Dalghar in the run
home to post a comfortable victory.
"I watched her last win and thought she would be one of my best rides for the
day," Spratt said.
She hadn't planned to set the pace with Blue Shadow, but then filly determined
that plan of attack from barrier rise.
"I was going to take a sit, but she jumped well and put herself there so I just
let her roll along," Spratt said.
Blue Shadow beat off the challenge of Babe into the straight and she was never
threatened thereafter, coasting to an impressive length and a quarter victory.
"She cruised along in front and I was quite confident a fair way out," Spratt
said. "She's a really nice filly and that was a pretty good field."
Trained by at Cambridge Graeme Hughes for siblings Colin and Des Bishop and
Astrid Morgan, Blue Shadow had broken her maiden at her previous appearance at
Matamata after a debut fifth at Rotorua.
Her Te Rapa success came at the expense of Command Royale, who ran on well in
the straight with Huayra a game third and Tellyawhat did well to take fourth.
His rider Alfred Chan crossed the line with only one iron. – NZ Racing Desk.