JONES WRAPS UP HER TOOWOOMBA SEASON IN STYLE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, July 30, 2022

Third career start. First win.

That is the form summary the Tony and Maddysen Sears trained Mikkeli came away with after the Toowoomba meeting on July 30 where the very lightly raced four-year-old mare had won a Maiden Handicap over 1650m.

Mikkeli had finished unplaced in her previous two starts which came six months apart, but the fact she was second-up here (fitter for that first-up run) and stepping up to a more preferred distance (from 1200m to 1625m) helped the daughter of Dundeel find her feet much better than before and, in end, at the easy odds of $13, she would prove to good for her nine rivals.

Drawn nine out of the ten runners, Mikkeli was held wide early before Angela Jones opted to take her back, a situation which left the Sears trained runner in lonely last place as the field went down the back stretch.

Still last at the start of the sweep to the home turn, but now seven lengths back, Jones started to push Mikkeli forward, racing four wide.

Mikkeli still had seven runners in front of her on straightening and still had all of six lengths to make up.
It needed a special effort from that position, but Mikkeli was up for the challenge.

Her acceleration, under the rigorous urgings of Jones, was superb and she sustained it all the way down the straight … an effort that was good enough to already see her reach the lead inside the final 100m and stay on to score by an official 0.50 length margin.

As this was the last race on the card at the last Toowoomba meeting for the season, it meant that Angela Jones had ending off her Toowoomba Premiership winning season in style!

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