Undefeated Adelaide filly Assertive Play will be set for the 2018 Group 1 $500,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield during the Melbourne Spring Carnival.
Dom Tourneur, above, has ridden Assertive Play to her two wins from two starts. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Prominent Adelaide trainer Peter Spokes said there is still a lot of improvement to come from Assertive Play after the filly kept her winning record intact with a comprehensive four and three quarter lengths victory in the $100,000 Two Year Old Plate (1100m) at Morphettville last Saturday.
Assertive Play has only raced twice and at her previous start won on debut in a 1050m two year old Handicap at Morphettville on June 16 and Strokes will now give the Akeed Mofeed filly a short break before preparing her for her Spring campaign.
“She’ll have a couple of weeks off now and we’ll look at nominating for some of the nice races like the Thousand Guineas in the spring,’’ Stokes told The Adelaide Advertiser.
“She’s a nice filly who should only get better, she’s still got a lot to learn.”
Top Adelaide jockey Dom Tourneur has been aboard Assertive Play for her two wins and at Morphettville last Saturday rode the filly with heaps of confidence from the outside barrier in the seven horse field.
Tourneur eased Assertive Play back from the jump to be second last, but near the fence in the early stages, before making his move coming to the home turn.
Assertive Play quickly reeled in the pacesetters on the home turn out three and four wide and careered away in the straight when Tourneur released the brakes and even though Assertive Play had a tendency to lay in down the straight, the filly went on to record a very impressive win.
The trainer – jockey combination of Stokes and Tourneur are frequent visitors to Melbourne during the major carnivals with one notable success being the smart stable performer Hucklebuck winning the Group 1 $1m Emirates Stakes (1600m) at Flemington during the 2014 Melbourne Spring Carnival.
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