Trainer David Hayes will head to the Adelaide Oaks with his filly Alzora after winning the Group 3 $150,000 The Mittys Vanity (1400m) at Flemington today.
Alzora was able to score first up over 1400m and Hayes is certain the filly will handle the 2000m of the Group 1 $400,000 Schweppes Oaks at Morphettville on April 27
“I’m hoping she can develop into an Australian Oaks filly,” Hayes said.
“She’s always worked pretty well and took a long time to break her Maiden, but she did it in a stakes race.”
“She was getting beaten in maidens mid Spring and she has thankfully stepped up.”
“It’s a juggling act with a stayer in a sprint. We had her fresh, maybe too fresh. I thought her run may have ended at the fifty, but to her credit she was tough and hung in there and picked up a bit more valuable black type.”
Alzora, a filly by Redoute’s Choice, won over 2000m at Caulfield at Listed level before running fifth to Dear Demi in the Group 1 $1m Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 8.
Jockey Nick Hall settled Alzora well back in the field and brought the filly with a long sustained run to score by a short head in a blanket finish from the heavily backed You’re So Good.
“I just wanted to creep into the race a little bit. She obviously gets over a bit further, she has come back extremely well,” Hall said.
“She gave me a fantastic feel.”