MISS MCKINLEY SCORES FOURTH WIN FROM NINE STARTS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, March 5, 2022

Miss McKinley, a lightly raced four-year-old mare, made it four wins from nine starts for the Tony and Maddysen Sears Training Partnership when she took out a Class 4 Handicap over 1100m on the Poly Track at the Sunshine Coast on March 5.

The chestnut, who won three-in-a-row earlier in her career, was second up here. She had resumed on February 11, following an eight-month layoff, with a third place finish behind stable-mate Spirit One and she quickly showed the expected improvement from that run by toughing out a hard fought win in which she had to score plenty of commitment in the home straight.

Angela Jones gave Miss McKinley (a $2 favourite) her vote of confidence by taking the daughter of Dawn Approach to an immediate lead, confident that she could get the job done at both ends … and that is exactly what Miss McKinley did.

Not for the first time, Jones rated a Sears runner perfectly up front, to the degree that when Miss Lot One ($3.60) moved alongside Miss McKinley in threatening fashion at the top of the straight, Miss McKinley had enough in reserve to be able to both see off Miss Lot One’s persistent and determined challenge (that duel lasted all the way until Miss McKinley edged away inside the final 100m) … and to be strong enough at the line to keep the fast finishing Raku’s Secret ($21) back in second place.

Credit to the Sears team for turning Miss McKinley out in such fighting trim second-up and also to apprentice Angela Jones who is riding in great form … this being her fifth winner from fourteen rides so far for the month of March.

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