MISS ARIA DENIED WINX GLORY

Miss Aria has narrowly been denied her first Group honour at Sunshine Coast on Sunday, just going down to Peter and Paul Snowden’s Xidaki in the G3 Winx Guineas.

In what would have made trainer Danny O’Brien's Queensland Carnival even sweeter, following The Tatts Cup quinella of Vow And Declare and Young Werther and the Group 3 win of Maracana, Miss Aria was nosed out. 

The filly has won four races to date and three in the city, had too much to do in her Queensland debut at Ipswich, but still ran home soundly into fourth behind Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr’s Hedged.

And she had a mammoth task once again on Sunday, stuck back and wide in a messy contest.

But Damien Thornton somehow got the back of Emmadella ($8), and Miss Aria suddenly looked one of the main hopes as the field fanned out.

However, the horse who ended up circling even wider, $3.50 second favourite Xidaki, stuck his lip in front at the 200-metre mark and refused to lie down, prevailing by a nose under Vlad Duric and giving stallion Zoustar the quinella

It is Miss Aria’s second black-type placing this campaign, and the first was also an agonisingly close defeat – she finished just a nose behind Nick Ryan’s Material Dreams in April’s Listed Nitschke Stakes.  

Thornton said was gutted post race, but said connections were sure to have fun with the well-bred highly talented filly in the Spring.

By Darcy Cosgriff for Racing.com

Pic by Trackside Photography