Super three year old Sea Siren created history in becoming the first filly to win the Group 1 $650,000 Carlton Mid Doomben 10,000 (1350m) at Doomben today.
Sea Siren holds off Buffering in the Doomben 10,000 - photo © Daniel Costello
Winning jockey Jim Cassidy gave Sea Siren the perfect run on the fence behind the pace setter Adebisi, but had to fight hard all the way down the straight to stall off local hero Buffering to score by a neck on the line.
Today’s win was Cassidy’s ninety-fourth Group 1 victory and made it two in a row on this filly after taking out the $400,000 Bundaberg Distilling Co. BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben two weeks ago.
“Broke a record, no filly has ever won it. If any one can, the Pumper and John boy can,” said Cassidy, who is commonly known as the ‘Pumper’ due to his riding style, referring also to winning trainer John O’Shea.
“She’s such a push button filly. She’s got a few hurdles to climb yet, but she’s going to go a long way. She’s a real little pro,” Cassidy added.
O’Shea will now head to the Group 1 $1m AAMI Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 9 with his new star, a race he picked out when Sea Siren beat Australian Oaks winner Streama during the Autumn in Sydney.
“It’s a wonderful achievement for a wonderful filly,” O’Shea said.
“Full credit to Jimmy. She didn’t end up where we wanted to be. We wanted to be one off so we could get going when we wanted to. It’s just the way it panned out, she ended up box seating. It was a very good run and a very good ride.”
Three year old fillies have a good record in the Stradbroke and when O’Shea decided to bring Sea Siren north he remembered winning the 1400m Group 1 sprint at Eagle Farm with his good filly Private Steer in 2003.
“We brought her to Brisbane to see if she would be competitive in the Stradbroke. Three year old fillies traditionally have been very competitive in this race particularly when they have good Group 2 form in Sydney in the Autumn. She’s probably ended up a little better than we anticipated.”
“That’s always the nice one. Nine times out of ten it always end up the other way.”
“She really stamped herself today, the filly.”
Sea Siren started the $4.20 favourite in holding off Buffering ($4.80), with $21 chance Temple Of Boom running home strongly two lengths away in third spot.
Last year’s 10,000 winner Beaded ($8.50) had a fair run during the race but couldn’t go on with it and faded to finish eleventh while the three year old Pampelonne ($6) ran a fair race at his first go at weight for age to finish in sixth spot.
Trainer Robert Heathcote was more than happy with the effort of Buffering after an interrupted preparation and will now push towards the Stradbroke and possibly a trip to Hong Kong at the end of the year.
