IN the days leading up to the thoroughbred meeting in Launceston last night multiple premiership-winning jockey Brendon McCoull was feeling confident about the chances of four-year-old mare Partenza scoring a first-up win in a class one handicap over 1200m.
That was until he saw the final field.
“I was feeling confident after her last track gallop but I was a bit disappointed when I saw the final field – it looked a really hot race,” McCoull said.
But his doubts were allayed by the mare that powered her way to one of the most impressive wins on the eight-event program.
Partenza began well but she ended up three-back on the fence and at one stage it looked as if she might not obtain a clear run.
But thanks to some McCoull wizardry, she ended up in the one-out line and on the back of the heavily backed favourite My Paige Three that enjoyed a cosy run one-out and one-back off of a good speed set by Ain’t The Whisky.
When McCoull eased the mare out three-wide to challenge she stormed home to win by almost two lengths despite laying in about `50 metres from home.
She defeated Meteor Strike that rattled home along the rails while My Paige Three held on for third.
Partenza (Savoire Vivre-Bianchi) is trained at Campania by Chris Crook and Imogen Miller.
“The mare has been in work for a while so we knew she’d be fit enough for a 1200-metre race first up,” Miller said.