Bendigo trainer Toby Lake will set his sights higher after his promising filly Fieldelo made an impressive winning return at her home track last Friday.
The three-year-old daughter of Deep Field was making her first racetrack appearance since a debut maiden win at Kilmore last November. That form had been franked, with runner-up Sweethearted competitive in black-type races since.
Punters were confident the form would hold up, as Fieldelo was sent out a $1.80 favourite for the 1000-metre fillies-and-mares benchmark 58.
Harry Coffey had her travelling comfortably just behind the leaders and when she was asked for an effort she let down with an electric turn of foot to win by a widening seven-length margin.
“I felt confident today. She gives me so much confidence, this filly,” Lake said.
“She’s a much more furnished product this time in. I’m just pumped.”
Lake is aiming to get the filly to a three-year-old race in Melbourne in about three weeks’ time, with an eye on the listed Lightning Stakes in Adelaide on the last Saturday of the season.
Altruist delivers
Although he wasn’t a short-priced favourite like the previous winner, there were still plenty of cheers on track when Altruist ($26) won for Jarrod Robinson to provide the second leg of a local training treble at the Bendigo meeting.
The four-year-old gelding, winner of the 1600-metre benchmark 64, is a bit of a blueblood, being by four-time Australian champion sire Snitzel out of multiple Group 1-winning South African mare Carry On Alice
His yearling half-sister by The Autumn Sun sold for $900,000 at this year’s Magic Millions yearling sale.
There was also another local angle to the win as Altruist was ridden by Chelsea Jokic, who has relocated to a property near Bendigo after spending the last decade in Queensland with a trainer/jockey dual licence.
It was Jokic’s second winner back in the Victorian riding ranks, the first having been for her father Stefan at Echuca last month.
Fitzy strikes again
The Bendigo trainers completed their home treble when Tim Fitzsimmons kept up his hot run of form with Lightning Express ($5.50) taking out the last race, the Happy Birthday Peter Downward BM64 Handicap (1400m).
The horse was given a great ride by Jaylah Kennedy, who found the perfect gap at the top of the straight and timed her run to get up in the final strides.
Another ex-Singapore galloper for Fitzsimmons, the Impending gelding had been knocking on the door, having been placed in two of his three runs in Victoria leading in.
“We don’t have too many world-beaters that we brought back from Singapore.” Fitzsimmons said.
“We need to place them in the right races. It seems to be working.”
From May 12 to May 30 Fitzsimmons had six winners from 12 runners.