O'BRIEN FILLY SERVES VRC OAKS NOTICE

Served Cold has given notice that she could provide Danny O'Brien with a second VRC Oaks with a strong staying effort to defeat the colts and geldings in the Geelong Classic (2200m) on Wednesday.

O'Brien, who trained Miami Bound to win the 2000-metre classic in 2019, has taken on the lessons learned from Served Cold's sister El Patroness in terms of Oaks timing with the former's preparation.

It was only ten days ago that El Patroness, who won the Australian Oaks in 2022, passed away from a heart attack, while Served Cold is raced by the same ownership group, which includes Hawthorn premiership players Jarryd Roughead, Jack Gunston, Luke Breust and Liam Shiels.

According to O'Brien, two years ago when he was preparing El Patroness for the VRC Oaks, he raced her too much and she didn't get there.

"We obviously had the tragedy of El Patroness two weeks ago now, we had to pick ourselves up and we were looking forward to getting this filly (Served Cold) up to this distance (2200m)," O'Brien said.

"El Patroness, she didn't make it to the Oaks in the spring as we raced her too many times. We did our homework on that and did the opposite on this filly and raced her a little bit less.

"There's no reason why she shouldn't make good progression to the Oaks as it's 15 days away."

O'Brien wasn't surprised Served Cold bounced back from her fifth placing at Flemington, where he said there were excuses.

"She had an easy couple of weeks after that and we have been very focused on getting her to the Oaks and we were going to try and have one too few rather than have one run too many," he said.

"This race just went perfectly with her program and she's already been here and won. It is a local track for us now. She's out at our Barwon Heads property and it was a good chance for her to get it right after getting it wrong the other day.

"She got a lovely ride from Blake Shinn today and travelled well. She'll learn a lot. That was only her fourth race start. She's a very natural staying fully and just has that natural cardio, which means she could probably run 2000 metres in her first start."

Served Cold ($4.80) defeated Waverley ($6) by a length-and-a-quarter, with Kosgei ($9.50) the same distance away third.

"She's a free-rolling filly and the race worked out nicely. The tempo was genuine for that distance and three-year-old level of ability," he said.

Shinn was happy to take up the running and said she travelled strongly throughout the race.

"Never felt at any stage that I was going to lose. She travelled into the bend well and let down nicely.  I think there is a bit of upside and we go to Flemington on Oaks Day and she's a real contender," Shinn said.

Story by Michael Manly for Racing.com

Pic by Racing Photos