CLASSY Victorian mare I Love It will be trying to notch her second win in the $125,000 Group 3 Magic Millions Bow Mistress (1200m) at Luxbet Park Hobart today.
The six-year-old mare won the race two years ago and last year she was beaten in a head-bobbing finish by Nautical but went on to win the $125,000 Vamos Stakes in Launceston at her subsequent start.
I Love It has an impeccable record at the top level interstate and her experience on the Hobart track is one of the reasons she is favourite to notch her second win in the prestigious weight-for-age race over 1200 metres for fillies and mares.
The John Salanitri-trained mare’s previous attempts at the Bow Mistress have been first-up from a spell and today is no exception.
But despite her great record in the race there are three raiders duelling for favouritism with little separating I Love It ($2.60), the Darren weir-trained Lyuba ($2.70) and Ocean Embers ($2.80) from the Shea Eden stable at Cranbourne.
“I Love It will do what she always does and give her all and that’s what wins most of her races,” said the travelling foreman Frank Salanitri.
“She won this race in 2015 and last year the result could have gone either way it was such a narrow margin and we are back to try and make it two from three.
I Love It travelled to Tasmania by sea and was floated to David and Scott Brunton’s stables at Seven Mile Beach yesterday.
“The mare has taken no harm from the trip, in fact she’s thrived since arriving in Hobart.”
Lyuba and Ocean Embers both have good form going into the race with Ocean Embers to be aimed at the Group 1 $1 million Sangster Stakes in Adelaide in May while connections of Lyuba are not looking further than today’s assignment.
The race boasts a small field of eight with the Charlie Goggin-Luella Meaburn mare Trot On Candy ($23) the best of the local hopes.
Trot On Candy is untried at top level with her times over the distance suggesting she could sneak a place at odds while the Barry Campbell-trained mare Teriki has speed to burn and could figure if she is left alone in front.