 Elegant Fashion may have
earned the credit she rightly deserved when she downed a class field of fillies in the
$251,000 Kewney Stakes at Flemington today.While her
trainer Tony McEvoy had been sprouting her as "something special" for the past
few weeks she had constantly been in the shadow of the reigning Sandown Guineas winner
Moon Dragon.
Sure Moon Dragon again found trouble in today's Group Two
race, but she was never going to down the filly from Lindsay Park.
 Long time Lindsay Park
stable foremen Gary Fennessy and Tony McEvoy, who is now the head trainer of the dual
state operation, were again full of praise for their "star."
"She's as good as we've (Lindsay Park) had for a long,
long time," McEvoy beamed.
Comparisons, which are the hardest things to draw between
gallopers of different eras, were drawn between the filly and the former champion prolific
Group One winner How Now.
"It's probably too early to say something like that
(she's as good as How Now), but she's a very, very exciting horse," he added.
That man again, Scotty Seamer, was aboard another feature
race winner in the form of Elegant Fashion and it's the first time Seamer and Lindsay Park
have teamed up.
"We sought him out desperately," McEvoy said of
Seamer when it was known that her regular rider Greg Childs would be committed to Sunline
in the Coolmore Classic in Sydney.
 Seamer, like McEvoy, was
beaming after the race and was full of praise for the win, although he did speak of some
disappointment.
"She's a very exciting filly. I'm sure she's going to
be the one to beat in the Moonee Valley Oaks," Seamer said.
"It's just a pity I won't be able to ride her as I
won't be in Melbourne on that day," he added.
At the post Elegant Fashion ($5-$5.50-$4.80) had three
quarters of a length to spare over the runner-up Bridal Hill ($21-$26-$17), while Gold
Lottey who hit the front after straightening was third a further one length in arrears.
The win by Elegant Fashion eroded some of the
disappointment experienced after the stable went agonisingly close to a Group One win with
North Boy finishing a short half head second to Rubitano in the Newmarket Handicap just
over an hour earlier.
Many of the fillies in today's race will progress to the
Moonee Valley Oaks, with Group One plans for Elegant Fashion maybe in South Australia over
the Adelaide Cup Carnival.
"If we were to race on I would prefer to run in
Adelaide (in preference to Sydney)," McEvoy said of his home state.
PICS - Quentin
Lang. |
