|
Sent out the well
supported favourite after a string of four wins, Hot Dipped produced another
brilliant turn of foot to come from well back in the field and win by three
quarters of a length. |
Hot Dipped has always shown above average
ability - right from her early juvenile days and she was too classy in last
year's Magic Millions Tasmanian 2YO Classic."There's more improvement to come yet - she's not tight and ribby, she's light, not like a seasoned stayer."
"It's onwards and upwards."
Provided the filly pulls up well and continues to please connections the $100,000 listed Tasmanian Oaks (2100m) on February 19 looks an ideal option.
"We'll see how she pulls up. That's for discussion. I can't see anything stopping her from doing that."
For Turkish rider Bulent Muchu, his love for Hot Dipped is unquestioned - although he did doubt her over the longer trip today.
"I feel a little bit silly that I didn't believe she would get 2100m. She surprises me all the time," Muchu told reporters.
The win was a boost for Hot Dipped's Statue of Liberty half brother, catalogued as Lot 88, to go under the hammer at the 2017 Tasmanian Yearling Sale on February 16 in Launceston.
The runner-up in the Strutt, Wyuna, also has a half relation heading to the same sale. Paisley Park is preparing, as Lot 13, her half sister by local first season sire Hectorr.
Hot Dipped wasn't the only Magic Millions graduate to shine with a stakes win over the Hobart Cup Carnival.
Earlier in the day exciting youngster Pateena Arena led home a Magic Millions 1-2 finish in the listed Elwick Stakes for two-year-olds.
In winning the filly made history for her freshman sire Needs Further - his first stakes winner in a result celebrated by Armidale Stud, who stand the son of Encosta de Lago.
Needs Further is the first of the first season sires to be represented by a
stakes winners - a fair achievement considering the crop includes the likes of
All Too Hard and Pierro.There are 22 yearlings by Needs Further preparing to go under the hammer at the 2017 Tasmanian Yearling Sale.
Today's star Pateena Arena cost trainer Bill Ryan $22,000 last year and already she's returned her large group of owners over $76,000 from just four starts.
Meanwhile, at Friday's feature meeting at Elwick it was the bonny Beneteau filly Ocean Embers who swept the day's big race, the Group Three Bow Mistress Stakes.
It was fitting the filly would win the race sponsored by Magic Millions, being a $23,000 graduate of the 2015 Adelaide Yearling Sale at Morphettville.
The filly was presented for sale by Cornerstone Stud Farm, as agent for Arrowfield Stud, and was purchased by Victorian trainer Shea Eden.
Already a proven group winner in Melbourne, Ocean Embers is the current star of her stable and Eden is eyeing a run at the Group One Robert Sangster Stakes at Morphettville.
Leading Seven Mile Beach trainer Scott Brunton had a weekend to remember with six winners including five on Cup Day - the highlights being Count Da Vinci in the Hobart Cup and Hellova Street in the Thomas Lyons Stakes.
