Tim O'Connor
Trainer Emma Stewart has a stranglehold on another Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Oaks after qualifying five runners through to next weekend’s Final, but all the interest will be in Monday night’s barrier draw and which horse David Moran will drive in the Group 1 contest.
Moran was in the sulky for both Oaks heat wins in Bendigo on Saturday night, firstly taking Beach Music to victory in the opening qualifier before guiding Ladies In Red to success about half an hour after.
The two fillies are owned by Lauriston Bloodstock, with Beach Music leading and scoring by nearly 10m and Ladies In Red just as convincing despite winning by just under 2m on the line.
“She done it pretty arrogantly tonight, but I guess so did Beach Music,” Moran said after Ladies In Red’s success.
“I don’t really get into barrier draws, but I’m going to be sitting pretty close to the telly on Monday and watching this one.”
TrotsVision host Jason Bonnington then posed a question to Moran regarding which horse he’d like to drive in the Final. And the answer left viewers none the wiser.
“We’ll make it even money,” Moran said with a grin.
Beach Music, who Moran openly said had bridged the gap in performance between herself and Ladies In Red in recent times, strolled to victory in a mile rate of 1:58.1 over the 2650m trip, with her stablemate clocking 1:59.1 and a rapid 26.3 last quarter.
Moran has driven Ladies In Red, the reigning Victorian 2YO Pacing Filly of the Year, in all bar two of her 13 career starts and has been in the cart behind Beach Music in her last six.
Given the first six fillies over the line in each of the heats progress to the Final, the Stewart stable will also be represented on October 9 by Platinum Sparkle, Joanna and Treachery, with Runaway Celebrity named as the emergency.
Superstar filly Tough Tilly was the key disappointment for the yard, with last year’s Vicbred Super Series champ dropping out badly to run third last in the Beach Music heat.
“She’s been stood down pending a vet clearance. She was found to be lame in the off foreleg, so she certainly had her excuses there,” Harness Racing Victoria Chairman of Stewards Brett Day said.
