Three-year-old filly Rue Cler broke through for her maiden win at the second time of asking when victorious in the Boys Get Paid/Chris Hayes Livestock (1400m) at Waverley on Thursday.
“Watching it live, it was pretty impressive,” trainer Bryce Newman said.
“Lisa (Allpress, jockey) said she didn’t really love that slow track but she had to do something, and she had to go around, so all in all I am pretty happy with her.”
The daughter of Proisir was third on debut over 1200m at Hawera earlier this month and Newman said he elected to bypass another three-year-old race at the Taranaki track in favour of Thursday’s maiden.
“We had the option to run in the three-year-old race at Hawera but decided we would rather put her into the maiden race and give her some experience in a big field,” he said.
“It was only a four-horse race at Hawera, so we opted out of that one and took on a whole bunch of horses to give her a bit of experience.
“She is still green and she has still got a fair bit to learn. She is a big horse and she has got to learn to get her legs underneath her yet.”
Newman said he can’t wait to get his filly up over more ground.
“We think the sooner that we get to 2000m the better,” he said. “We would like to get there pretty soon because we don’t think we will see the best of her until she gets over a bit more ground.”
There are plenty of options instore for the promising three-year-old, including the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November.
“At this stage she holds a nomination for the 1000 Guineas, but it is not the be all and end all for us. We have got the Eulogy (Gr.3, 1600m) at Palmerston North, that can be a target as well,” he said.
“We will just play it by ear, we are not going to make a decision now.
“At the moment we couldn’t be any happier with her and we are stoked that she has broken her maiden.” – NZ Racing Desk
