Three year old filly Leotie has firmed in the betting for the Group 1 $500,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on October 8 after scoring a nose win at Bendigo yesterday.
Jockey Chris Parnham, above, was aboard Leotie in her Bendigo win. Photo by Adrienne Bicknell.
The Henry Dwyer trained Leotie was sent out the $1.95 favourite against the older horses in the 1400m BenchMark 78 Handicap and came from near last on the turn to record a nose win over Stylish Miss.
Before yesterday’s win Leotie was rated as a $13 chance at Ladbrokes.com.au for the Thousand Guineas but she has now firmed into $9 on the third line of betting behind the Chris Waller trained Foxplay who heads the market order at $3 in front of Lindsay Park’s Harlow Gold at $7.
Dwyer was happy with the way Leotie settled near the tail of the field and at the way she powered to the line at the end of the 1400m on the heavy 9 rated track.
“Panic stations a little bit there for one stage but once she got out in the clear and the better going she sort of let down well enough to win,” Dwyer said.
“I think the main positive to take out of it is how well she’s settling, being a filly we’ve done a lot of work trying to get her to settle.”
The young Caulfield trainer is pleased with the way the Darci Brahma filly has pulled up after the race and is now set to step her up to Group 1 company against the fillies on Saturday week.
“The risk was that we’d have her have a gut-buster for Saturday week, but I don’t think that’s the case, I think she’s come through it alright,” Dwyer said.
“She was always going to need a run, she hadn’t done a lot coming into the day, but I think it will top her off well,”
Winning jockey Chris Parnham was also impressed with the way Leotie was able to round up the older horses and said she was on track for the Thousand Guineas.
“She was against older horses and had we been on better ground I would have thought she’d put them away pretty easy,” Parnham said.
“I think she’s a horse with a lot of upside and a lot of ability.”
“It’s probably not an ideal run to have into a Thousand Guineas but she had to go this way and she was still good enough to get the job done.”
Leotie caught the eye with a flashing second to I Am A Star in the Group 3 $150,000 Winslow Group Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on August 13 before scoring an impressive win in a 1400m BenchMark 78 Handicap at Caulfield on August 27.
Dwyer was then forced to scratch Leotie from the Group 2 $200,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield last Saturday after the filly was treated late in the week for a minor respiratory infection but she was quick to respond to treatment.
Early market order for the Thousand Guineas at Ladbrokes.com.au: $3 Foxplay, $7 Harlow Gold, $9 Leotie, $10 Yankee Rose, Legless Veuve, Missrock, $13 Global Glamour, Whispering Brook, Samara Dancer, La Luna Rossa, $15 Exocet, $17 Awoke, Sebring Dream, Serenely Discreet, $21 I Am A Star, $26 and over the rest.
