SASSY BACK UP REAPS REWARDS
Trainer Danny O'Brien's decision to back up Saasy Boom on Saturday at Caulfield in the Group 2 Angus Armanasco juts six days after winning a Benchmark 64 for fillies and mares at Sale, reaped great rewards for her connections.
It was astute decison by the Melbourne Cup winning trainer as the well-bred filly is now worth considerably more as a Group 2 winning breeding prospect.
And winning jockey Blake Shinn said the trainer was bullish when legging him on the three-year-old filly in the mounting yard.
"I've got a lot of respect for Danny,. He's a wonderful trainer and he has been one of my biggest supporters since I've come back to Melbourne. He turned his horse out really well and he told me she'd win. I then got on her and she gave me a lot of confidence going to the gates. She owned that race right from the get-go and super blacktype with a filly like this, that stands her in good stead for her pedigree page," Shinn said post race.
O'Brien said he was confident she could measure up in stakes grade give the ease of her win last weekend.
"She filled us with confidence last time that she'd won effortlessly, it was really a barrier trial style of run. She had a very easy week, presented in great order again today, and once again got a good map, a good ride and it was a very painless watch," O'Brien said.
On her next step, O'Brien said she would possibly clash with his Group 3 Vanity winner from Flemington last week in Grinzinger Belle.
"I think they'll both end up in the Kewney in two weeks time, it's the logical race for them both at Flemington. This filly's also probably going to improve when she steps out to a mile, so it's a good problem to have - in-form fillies that have both won group races in the last seven days,' O'Brien said.
"It's a really good result for our owners."
The 1400m race turned out perfectly for the daughter of Spirit Of Boom.
"We envisaged being one, two in the run and after she jumped well they just went a moderate tempo and we found our position," Shinn said.
"We had fitness on our side and given the fact the leading chances we're going to be conceding a start to us and the fact that they were first up, I put the pressure on early and Danny's a great conditioner of horse, so I had confidence to go early and she proved too good."
Pic by Racing Photos