AUTUMN DAZE GIVES THE MICHAEL NOLAN STABLE A NEW YEAR'S DAY WINNER

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 1, 2022

It is always good to kick off the New Year with a winner and that is exactly what the Michael Nolan stable did when Autumn Daze built on her two previous runner-up finishes to score in a Maiden Plate over 1110m at Toowoomba on January 1, 2022.

That promising form coming into the race, a number one barrier draw and the 1.5kg claim for apprentice Alex Patis all combined to make Autumn Daze the logical selection for the race and punters didn’t miss her, sending her out at the restrictive odds of $1.80.

Patis jumped the three-year-old filly smartly out of the gates making every use of her pole position barrier, and then she made sure she did enough to hold the rail position when the $5.50 chance Way Of The World accelerated, looking to cross Autumn Daze, and these two runners took the field along at the head of affairs for a good part of the back stretch with a clear gap back to the rest of the runners.

Bu the time the field approached the home turn, Autumn Daze had firmly established her superiority over Way Of The World and, by the time the field straightened for home, the followers of the favourite were now scanning the field for any possible dangers running on from behind.
Dream Decision ($8.50) did take up that challenge late, but Patis and Autumn Daze were always going well enough to secure victory, in the end scoring by 0.50 lengths.

After finishing second four times in her first six starts, this was arguably clearly a win that was coming … but, then again, in this game where so much can go wrong, it is always a relief when a horse makes good on its promise.

*This result went one better than Keepmovingforward’s runner-up finish at Ipswich on New Year’s Eve in a Class 2 Handicap over 800m in what was a promising first-up effort from the five-year-old after four-and-a-half months away from race action.

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