Lumosty continued her recent run of dominance with success in Saturday’s Listed Straight Six (1200m) at Flemington and trainer Robert Smerdon has confirmed the classy filly will definitely take her place in the 2015 Stradbroke Handicap field should she rate high enough for entry.
Lumosty posted a second-consecutive win in Saturday’s Listed Straight Six at Flemington. Photo: Adrienne Bicknell
Dwayne Dunn settled Lumosty off the pace of early Straight Six leader Le Bonsir after jumping from the gates well; slowly winding up before displaying an exceptional late turn of foot when asked for an extra effort 300m from the post by the Victorian hoop.
Smerdon was thrilled with Lumosty’s Straight Six performance and is confident her ability to put away a quality field points towards further success this time in.
“When they’re that dominant in the market, from my point of view as the trainer, you get a bit anxious because of the expectation,” Smerdon told Racing Victoria.
“We were a little bit nervous pre-race about a possible lack of tempo but at the 400 when everything else in the race was letting down she hadn’t been asked for her effort and to dominate that sort of race that was gives you confidence going forward.”
Lumosty is by no means assured a berth in the 2015 Stradbroke Handicap but Smerdon said she will take her position in the race should she gain a start, ahead of progression to the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) on the Gold Coast a fortnight later.
“It’s two weeks to the 1350m at Doomben either way and then two weeks to the Tatt’s Tiara which gives her two chances to win at Group 1 level,” he said.
“If she got a run in the Stradbroke we’d roll the dice and run with the record of three-year-olds.”
Dunn was thrilled with the feel offered up by the daughter of Fastnet Rock and is hopeful she will continue her impressive run of form through her major Brisbane Winter Carnival targets.
“It was always in the back of my mind whether she was looking for 1400 and sometimes with the tempo of these races down the straight they tend to hold up and then really zip and backmarkers as we saw in an earlier race can be out of play,” Dunn said.
“When I did put the foot to the floor she really lifted, she’s a little bit special and can hopefully climb a pretty big mountain.”
Lumosty has cut into tied-favouritism in early 2015 Stradbroke Handicap betting markets at Ladbrokes alongside fellow three-year-old Najoom at a quote of $7 for success.
