Tough filly Oohood has thrown her bridesmaid tag away with a heart stopping win in the Group 1 $500,000 Darley Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick today.
Oohood, in the middle with the blue cap, gets the judge’s decision in the Flight Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Oohood had been Group 1 placed on three occasions during her two year old year and went into today’s Flight Stakes winless but was able to come out the other side with the number 1 next to her name.
Tim Clark used a change of tactics and let Oohood ($14) settle in the second half of the field and brought the Tony McEvoy trained filly down the centre of the track for her final attack of the line.
While the two favourites Miss Fabulass ($2.25) and Fiesta ($5.50) look to have the finish to themselves, Clark was winding up Oohood who was chiming in out wide with Nakeeta Jane ($14).
In a blanket finish that took the judge a while to adjudicate on, Oohood was given the nod by the shortest margin of a nose just ahead of Fiesta with another nose separating Nakeeta Jane with another nose to Miss Fabulass on the inside fence.
Oohood proved to be the best filly on the day in the Flight Stakes and now that she has broken her maiden status, McEvoy is not frighten to take on the colts and geldings and will set the I Am Invincible filly for the Group 1 $2m Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on October 13.
“We’ll go and run in the Caulfield Guineas, we’ll take on the boys,” McEvoy said.
“She was better than all the colts through her two-year-old days, even though she didn’t win she beat the colts home and let’s see if she can do it again now.”
“She’s very courageous, there’s not a lot of her, but she’s got great ability and she’s very tenacious.”
“When they were coming up the straight I thought oh no, here we go again. Not another close finish, not another narrow defeat, thank god she put her nose out for us.”
“Her runs have been real pass marks and she’s been behind as you guys would have seen when she came up from Melbourne, she was behind in her coat and it’s come through today.”
“When I got up here on Tuesday to see her have a gallop, I thought this was going to be her best run and it needed to be.”
“Very very exciting.”
“She was stiff in the Blue Diamond, stiff in the Slipper I thought and the Sires’.”
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