BLEU ZEBRA SCORES SECOND CONSECUTIVE WIN

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 24, 2021

Bleu Zebra made it two in a row and provided trainer Tony Gollan with the middle leg of the stable’s winning treble at Doomben on Saturday.

The three-year-old filly had saluted at the same track over 1050m back on 30 December in Class 1 company and Gollan stepped up the test here asking Bleu Zebra to tackle 1200m in a Three-Year-Old Fillies Handicap … a test she passed with flying colours.

‘I think scratchings played a part in the trace. Once Natalie McCall’s horse (Magic Delta) came out it sort of paved the way for the race to unfold the way it did,” offered Gollan.

“It probably was the natural leader and we were probably going to be outside of it which might have made life a little bit trickier.

“When that came out, our plan was just to let Bleu Zebra get there on her own terms. She has wanted to run her races a bit upside down and be a bit aggressive in her races, but I think Georgina (Cartwright) has done a great job since she has ridden her. She rode her the other day in the race at Doomben (which Bleu Zebra won) and she got her to relax beautifully just outside the lead.

“Today, she just took her time … just let her use her natural speed to cross them. At no stage did she look like she wanted to over-race. When she came down the dip and gave a kick, she put the race beyond doubt pretty early.

“Georgina is doing a great job. She is in her first twelve months out of her time and that is always the hardest time for any jockey. She is a hard worker and a great person.”

‘We had a little bit of an awkward barrier,” added Cartwright. “She is the type of horse … you don’t really want to dig her up and then ask her to come back, so I just cruised with her, It is a nice, long run to the first turn.

“She was a touch keen throughout the middle stages, but she did settle quite well for her … she can be a little bit of a hard-going filly.

“She probably doesn’t want anymore than the 1200m, but it was a really good effort.”

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