QUALITY four-year-old mare Merrick’s Beauty defied a major betting drift to score an impressive win in the Treasury Wines Estate Benchmark 72 handicap over 1200 metres at UBET Park Hobart yesterday.
Merrick’s Beauty was placed in the Group 3 Vamos Stakes last preparation and was clearly the class runner in the field but after opening at $3.20 in the betting she drifted out to start at $6.
With her regular trackwork rider Georgie Catania aboard, Merrick’s Beauty travelled into the race from midfield to the home turn and she was untroubled to defeat Miss Elsa by a half-length with Gee Gees Style over a length away third.
The Alana Fulton-trained mare was being set for the Group 3 Bow Mistress Trophy -Vamos Stakes fillies & mares double earlier this year but her preparation was interrupted and she was left short of the mark.
But Fulton is hoping the mare can deliver the gods in the state’s best fillies and mares’ races for sprinters next year.
Listen to what trainer Alana Fulton said about Merrick’s Beauty after her win at UBET Park Hobart on Tuesday.
By Peter Staples.