Sheidel fought-off stablemate Faatinah to record a maiden Group 1 victory in the 2017 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield this afternoon.
Sheidel scored a maiden Group 1 victory in the 2017 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield this afternoon. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
It was Faatinah and Sheidel that took up the running in the early stages of the Oakleigh Plate and the two Lindsay Park-trained sprinters kicked away at the top of the straight to fight out the finish.
Faatinah put his nose in front of Sheidel at the 150 metre mark, but it was Sheidel that was the strongest in the final stages of the race and she fought him off to claim victory in the Oakleigh Plate.
Joao Moreira was brimming in praise for Sheidel following the Oakleigh Plate and he has now ridden her to victory on two occasions from the same number of rides.
“She is amazing,” Moreira said.
“She jumped out so far in front of the others and she was straight on to the bridle.
“She was nice and relaxed and she was tested at the top of the straight, but she didn’t let me down.
“She has proved that she is the real deal.
“Faatinah got a neck in front, but that proves that she has a big heat and she just kept on attacking the line.”
It had already been a big day for the Lindsay Park operation following the victory of Catchy in the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes and they were able to cap it off with quinella in the Oakleigh Plate.
David Hayes said after the race that the entire stable were confident that Sheidel would get the job done in the Oakleigh Plate and he revealed that she would now head to the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) in a fortnight.
“We were really confident with her,” Hayes said.
“I think that Perth form was very underrated and she was just spot-on.
“I was thrilled with the stablemates run and I am sure that he would have been in the finish in the Lightning.
“We are probably going to look at the Newmarket.
“She is beautifully weighted and she has that Group 1 win.
“I will be voting to keep her in Melbourne and her end game will be in Adelaide in The Goodwood.
“Faatinah will go into the Newmarket and if he does it there he could go to Dubai.”
Extreme Choice and Hellbent both hit the line strongly and lost no admirers with their performances, but they have no mathematical chance of running down the leaders as their respective jockeys left them too much work to do.
