Local filly Orgullo continued her strong polytrack form at Cambridge on Wednesday when taking out the NZB Insurance Pearl Series Maiden 2YO (1300m).
In-form senior hoop Sam Spratt had the Pride of Dubai filly tracking runner-up Heading to Noosa one off the fence throughout and fought hard in the straight, eventually pulling away towards the line to score by 1-3/4 lengths.
While it was Orgullo’s first win, she had been tested at stakes level in all but one of her previous seven starts and she appreciated the drop in class on Wednesday.
“It was nice for her to finally shed that maiden tag,” Isdale said.
“She’s run fourth in a Group Two (Wakefield Challenge Stakes, 1100m) and she ran in the Karaka Million, so it was just good to get that maiden out of the way.”
The win added to her second placing on the Cambridge Synthetic last month, where she is set to return on July 26 to contest the $40,000 MAAT Polytrack Final.
Isdale has been a strong supporter of Cambridge’s track and he said it is a much-needed tool for trainers over the wet winter months.
“I’ve been to six racing abandonments this year, so I like going there and so do the owners as they know you’re going to race,” he said.
Isdale will once again utilise the polytrack surface when he heads to Awapuni on Friday with a trio of runners.
Symphony will contest the Whisker Forestry Maiden (1200m), while three-year-old fillies Zoom and Quick Story will run in the La Bull Café Maiden (1000m) and the Waipine Logging Maiden (1700m) respectively.
“They all hit the line really nicely last start at Awapuni, so if they can reproduce that run and have a bit of luck, they should all be hopefully running well,” Isdale said. By Jess de Lautour, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk. – SENZ Racing
