WELL bred pup Trackside Girl staked her claim on the Winning Edge Kibble Easter Purse with an emphatic win in a heat over 461 metres at Tattersall‘s Park in Hobart last night.
The Alison Walker-trained bitch began well from box one and eventually found the front after a stoush with Hellyeah Flossie that began brilliantly from box four.
It was an impressive performance and arguably her best so far.
She is only lightly raced with this latest win coming at her fourth start.
Trackside Girl already had a win to her credit at Devonport in juvenile company but she was slow out that day and had to come from behind to win.
Walker said she was always confident about Trackside Girl making the final but she was just hoping she began well.
“There’s always a bit of doubt in your mind when they don’t always have good box manners but when she began well tonight and held the rail I was very confident she would win,” Walker said.
Trackside Girl is owned by Walker’s life partner Paul Lee who purchased the bitch as a pup from her breeder Chris Woodhouse.
Lee also purchased a litter brother Lucky Day that also shows promise.
While Trackside Girl was impressive there was a lot to like about the debut performance of Zorro’s Legacy that gave his rivals a galloping lesson in his Easter Purse heat.
Zorro’s Legacy, by Bombastic Shiraz from former champion stayer Fallen Zorro, began fairly from box seven but quickly mustered speed to chase Winklee Venus (1) and Riverdance Bo (6) that showed good early speed.
But by the time the field reached the 340-metre boxes Zorro’s Legacy had crossed to the rail and sped clear of his rivals.
He went on to score by five lengths from Canadian Bay with Riverdance Bo hanging on for third ahead of Winkle Venus (1).
Zorro’s Legacy stopped the clock at 26.35 with splits of 5.20 and 11.33.
The remaining Purse heat was taken out by Lashing Lad that flew the lids wearing the pink vest and had enough courage and stamina to hold out the odds-on favourite Sir Sonic that failed by a neck with Johnny Cougar grabbing third spot in a photo-finish over Camdale Buddy.
It was Lashing Lad’s first race start having only contested a qually in Launceston prior to last night’s Easter Purse heat.
Lashing Lad recorded a time of 26.84s which was clearly the slowest of the three heats but trainer Alan Anderson is confident the son of Lilli Pilli Lad-Illusion can improve a lot on that time in the final.