ORTENSIA UNDERLINES HER CLASS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 16, 2009

Glenlogan Park Stakes (Fillies & Mares - Listed) - 1350m. Time 1-09.79. Track: Good 3. Rail: Out 2m the entire circuit.
1 Ortensia; 2 Belong To Many; 3 Russeting.

This was a case of a fine filly strutting her stuff. Now, with a record that reads six wins from nine starts, Ortensia could be ready for bigger things. Certainly, her race winning acceleration is going to trouble a lot of horses in the future. She is superbly weighted for the Stradbroke. The question is, will she make the field?

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Tony Noonan: “She’s a good filly. I said it in Sydney when she won (on April 11 - when securing a hat trick of wins) she sat deep that day. There was disappointment the other day (on April 25, when beaten by a half-head) and there was concern that she maybe doesn’t run a 1400m. She’ll run 1400m without a problem in the world. She’s a very good filly and she got back on the right ground and was able to accelerate today. The (wide) barrier never worried me. I just said to everyone, I thought we would get better odds because of it.

“We’ll probably have to run in the sprint in a fortnight to guarantee us a run in the Stradbroke. We’ll probably do that and then head for the Stradbroke. She’ll get there if she is good enough .We’ve got 49.5kg in the Stradbroke. I think Craig (Williams) will get there. We discussed it a long while ago, so he’s pretty aware of where we are going.”

Jockey Craig Williams: “They didn’t pan out from the barrier draws, but, luckily enough, there were only a couple of horses that I wanted to follow. Tony (Noonan) said, when you get where you want to be, you need to be a bit conservative. Tony knows the horse inside out. You know, even in work, she’s not that impressive, She does what she has to so and then that’s it. After the other day with her narrow defeat Tony said, I think she is a better chaser. Things were a bit negative from the draw ... we didn’t have many options. I was very lucky to be on a horse who was able to take us close up in the race, but once she let down and chased down a horse like Belong To Me, it was just awesome.

“When she got beat last time she might have got too good a run. She got to the front. She thought she had it all won. She is definitely a great chaser. I don’t mind her in front, but we have to keep her mind on the job. She is an awesome filly. She might well be the queen of the turf coming in to the Spring Carnival.”

Jockey Jim Byrne (rider of the second placed Belong To Many): “In those first two furlongs they pressed us a bit and made us go a little bit quicker than I would have liked. But, in saying that, as soon as she did get there (in the lead), she dropped the bit and I was able to rate her. She really let down nice ... 1400m (the Stradbroke) is not going to be a problem for her. She drops right down in weight (from 58.5kg here to 51kg). She’s going to be right there in that race and she’ll be up there out of trouble.”