TWO FOR THE NOTEBOOK FROM IPSWICH

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, February 21, 2024

They were both only shedding their Maiden tickets, but the efforts of two fillies ... the David Vandyke trained Moszur and the Tony Gollan trained Torabella ... at Ipswich on Wednesday are well worth noting.

Moszur was second up in her fourth career start and, importantly, the daughter of Churchill was stepping out beyond 1400m for the first time to a more favourable, longer trip.

Moszur initially sat just off the speed, but Ryan Maloney quickly became unhappy with the pace being set up front, and he sent Moszur to the front passing the 800m mark. From that moment, Moszur dictated and dominated proceedings, opening up such a comfortable advantage halfway up the home straight that Maloney was able to ease Moszur over the concluding stages ... yet still record a winning margin of 3.72 lengths.

“She’s bred to get into an Oaks, and we thought we’d just try to nurse her through the summer and get her out to a trip,” said David Vandyke. “She’s struggled during the heat, so we’ve really been nursing her and nursing her ... and I can’t wait for things to cool down because I think she will do better then.

“We’ll just work backward from the Oaks and try and get her there nice and soft. It’s exciting and we are looking forward to getting her there for the big one if we can.”

Vandyke already has one Group 1 Queensland Oaks win behind his name after Gypsy Goddess took out the 2022 edition of the event, so he does know what it takes to win the race.

For her part, Torabella, who did not race as a two-year-old, was every bit as convincing as well, trouncing the runner-up by 3.25 lengths and embarrassing the balance of the field who finished well-and-truly strung out behind that.

The result was exactly what the betting had predicted with Torabella starting at the prohibitive odds of $1.85 with the others being quoted at $8.50 and upwards.

Torabella had won two trials leading into this race and was clearly primed for the occasion.

After a level break, Angela Jones had no hesitation in pushing Torabella into an immediate lead which she never looked like relinquishing at any stage of the running, ultimately pulling away, at will, from all challengers in the home straight to complete a handsome debut win which could not have been achieved in a more professional manner by a horse having only its first taste of race action.

Racing in the famous Peachester Lodge colours of Linda and Graham Huddy (Maroon and Gold Diamond stripes with white sleeves) Torabelle is by Toronado out of Pentamerous, who was also the mother of Shoot Out, one of the Huddy’s best performed horses, whose list of credits includes five Group 1 wins in the Randwick Guineas, the AJC Derby, The Chipping Norton (twice) and the George Main.

Torabella’s progress will therefore, understandably, certainly be followed with a keen interest.

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