The daughter of Mastercraftsman had shown a preference for wet tracks when taking out the Gr. 3 Eulogy Stakes on a slow 7 surface last December and Saturday’s rating of Heavy 10 was made to order for her.
A patient ride by apprentice Kei Chiong saw the filly kept to the rear of the field during the early stages of Saturday’s 1400 metre contest before she worked her way into a challenging position on the final corner. Allowed to stride to the front, Choice dashed away to put the result beyond doubt as she cruised to a comfortable three quarters of a length victory over her three-year-old rivals.Patterson was delighted with the win as he sets his sights on a bigger prize at Trentham later this month.
“I guess as a stakes winner already she may have had a slight class advantage on them on Saturday but once we got the rain during the week I was pretty confident she could win,” he said.“She went a couple of top races at Riccarton at her last two starts but I thought she might need a quick break when I brought her home so I put her in the paddock for a week. She drove me crazy however as she spent the whole time tearing around as though she was training herself so I brought her back in straight away.
“I was keen to tackle a Pearl Series event at Trentham later this month but because she was so well I thought I would have a go here as it’s on her back doorstep so I’m glad I did.”Patterson will press ahead with his Trentham plan with the filly showing no effects from her exertion on the weekend.
“She ate everything I put in front of her on Saturday night and is bucking and carrying on this morning,” he said on Sunday.“We will definitely go to that race at Trentham as she is paid up for the Pearl Series and with the money being that good for those races it seems silly not to when she know she will handle the track if it gets really wet which a few of them won’t.”
The New Zealand Bloodstock Insurance Pearl Series is a New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association administered scheme that provides bonuses of almost $2.6 million and prizemoney of nearly $2.8 million across 215 individual races over three seasons’ racing for fillies and mares nominated as yearlings.Registrations for the 2015 edition of the Scheme close on 31 July with a fee of $920 applicable.