Typhoon Tracy and Luke Nolan, picture Quentin Lang, quentinjlang.com
Australia‘s best mare Typhoon Tracy claimed her first group one victory against open company when she handled her rivals with ease in the $400,000, Group One, WFA Sportingbet C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Sent out as a $1.30 favourite, Typhoon Tracy and jockey Luke Nolen, who had the weight of punters expectations on their shoulders, travelled in second place behind race leader Danzylum (Allen). Heart of Dreams (Newitt) sat third with Sirmione (Dunn) in fourth place.
With less than a moderate tempo in running little changed until the home turn when Nolen stoked up his mare and made it a sprint home.
Luckily for those who took the $1.30 on offer, few horses are capable of outsprinting Typhoon Tracy, especially from behind and that proved the case as Heart Of Dreams and Sirmione tried hard but were unable to pick her up in the run home.
In the end the margin was a length and three quarters to Heart Of Dreams with a short head to Sirmione in third, however it was the last 600m that was most impressive about the performance and telling against the placegetters - 32.86 - making it near impossible to Typhoon Tracy down.
“It is nice to get that one in open company out of the way, it is her first one away from mares grade, the second and third horses a group one weight-for-age winners so we never expected it to be easy and I think she has nice improvement off the back of that,” Moody said.
“Looking back through her record her most brilliant wins have been when she has had to run fast early sectionals and just breaks their heart and continues running, the days she has got it soft are the days she has been a bit disappointing or just fallen in so hopefully it was a nice soft kick-off to a fruitful preparation.
“We are going to the Futurity in a few weeks and there are a hell of a lot of options after that but we haven’t pencilled anything other than the Futurity in two weeks time.
“An option might be the Hong Kong Mile if she won the Futurity as you hope she would but there are plenty of nice races in Sydney that she has won in the past and the owners are Queensland based and I have a bit of Queenslander in me too so we may see her up there at some stage.”
Knowing full well how hard group ones are to come by, Nolen was quick to praise his mare after her first open company group one victory.
“She has just got a wonderful attitude and she is a fantastic horse to have anything to do with,” Nolen said.
“With this one underneath her belt we will go to the Futurity she will be a bit more bulletproof and she should be able to carve them sectionals out then.
“With her manners, you would love to have a barn full of them and obviously with her ability as well. She has done a great job and hopefully this wont be the first time you see us up here.”
By Red Ransom out of the Last Tycoon mare Tracy's Element, Typhoon Tracy is owned by Hutchins Thoroughbreds Syndicate (Mgr: J T & Mrs F M Hutchins), J S & J A Hutchins. She has a record of eight wins and two minor placings from 11 starts with her only real failure being when she was extended past 1600m in the Underwood Stakes last spring.
Typhoon Tracy, picture Quentin Lang, quentinjlang.com.