Lindau mare goes well beyond all expectations

Banjup trainer Murray Lindau could cap off a career best season with a win in the Group 1 $150,000 Westral Mares Classic with much improved mare Beyond The Sea at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Murray Lindau's stable has been in scintillating form this season, with 15 winners (26 per cent strike rate) and $250,000 in stakes.

Beyond The Sea scored the biggest win of her career with an impressive victory in the $100,000 Norms Daughter classic on November 10 and has drawn perfectly in barrier 11.

It was the second leg of a Friday night double after Hotly Pursued won the first race on the program.

Beyond The Sea beat star mare Wonderful To Fly by a head in the Norms Daughter and took her earnings past $100,000 for the year. The pair will clash again on Friday night.

Lindau said the mare had overcome some serious hoof issues and it would be great to finish the year with a Group 1 win but he had a lot of respect for Wonderful To Fly.

"She started off the campaign with a couple of hoof abscesses. With the second one, she was unable to put her foot to the ground," Lindau said.

"Then she pulled a shoe in the paddock and it rotated and put three holes in her hoof. One of the punctures went right to the bone.

"So we lost a lot of ground workwise and I wasn't sure she would get back to her best.

"She is problem free at the moment and I can't fault her work – she tracked exceptionally well with Hotly Pursued this week. And her fitness is spot on.

"She has drawn ideally in that she shouldn't have to do a lot of work. The only slight question is she hasn't raced over the 2500m.

"I think Wonderful To Fly will be improved from her last run and she will be hard to run down from the draw."

Lindau, who has five horses in work, said he came to train the Sunshine Beach four-year-old almost by accident.

"I broke her and Recover Lover in for Trevor and Colleen Lindsay and she just could not pace," Lindau said.

"I told Trevor to give her a break and I would take her back for another prep.

"She had four or five weeks off and when she came back she paced perfectly straight away.

"We didn't have a lot of expectations for her. She was small and her sire hadn't done much at that stage.

"But when she won her trial in 1.55 and change, we realised she had something. When it came time to race her, Trevor asked me to continue on with her.

"I think she ended up the fastest two-year-old filly in WA that year."

Lindau has three runners on Friday night and looks to have good claims with smart frontrunner Talks Up A Storm and the in-form Hotly Pursued.

Three-year-old Hotly Pursued has draw wide in barrier 9 in the Westral Meshlock Pace but with three wins and four seconds from his last seven starts, he will be kept safe in the market.

Talks Up A Storm also looks an each-way chance from barrier three in the Westral Roller Shutters Pace.

"I think Talks Up A Storm has more wins in him. He has the gate speed to lead and he is a hard horse to run down in front," Lindau said.

"Early on in his career we had a lot of trouble with him tying up. Since we overcame that issue he has been very consistent."


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