By Glenn Davis
Bring on the Doomben Cup - that was the cry from the Mick Price stable following Oregon’s Day's brilliant win in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Oregon’s Day made a successful step up in distance to 1800 metres for the first time when she downed Tom Melbourne by 1-1/2 lengths.
Local hope Man Of His Word produced an eye-catching run to finish third, a further three-quarters of a length away.
Oregon’s Day’s win gave Brisbane jockey Jim Byrne his second Hollindale Stakes win after landing the feature on the Team Hawkes-trained Leebaz in 2015.
Oregon’s Day was perfectly ridden by Byrne who had the four-year-old travelling well in fourth place most of the way.
“What a super run and it was a very good ride by Jim (Byrne),” said Price’s stable foreman Pat Kearney.
“She handled the track well and it’s now on to the Doomben Cup.
“We had to get past this race to see if she could run 1800 metres and it was no problem so she should get 2000 metres after this run.”
Price said Oregon’s Day had been an unlucky throughout her career but the Hollindale Stakes win will be a major boost to her broodmare value.
Only one mare, Streama in 2014, has won the Hollindale Stakes-Doomben Cup double.
The Hollindale Stakes has been a great pointer to the Doomben Cup with 10 winners in the past 27 years since the Hollindale was first run.
Oregon’s Day was coming off the Sydney autumn where she ran second in the Group 1 Coolmore and Group 2 Emancipation Stakes before her fourth in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf at Randwick last month.
Meanwhile jockey Robbie Fradd farewelled Brisbane racing with a win aboard Sydney sprinter Anatola in the Listed Silk Stocking.
Fradd, who picked up the ride after Sydney jockey Josh Parr injured a foot at Canterbury on Wednesday, leaves on Monday for a month-long stint in Mauritius.
Anatola led all the way to down to down Test The World by 1-3/4 lengths with Slypheed, a further one length away, third.
Anatola’s win may have earned the five-year-old mare a shot at better races during the winter.
“I knew when she got to the front and had her ears pricked she’d be hard to run down,” said trainer Mark Newham.
“I’ll look at all options now and hopefully she can stretch out to 1350 metres so we can aim a little higher.”
Anatola’s win boosted her broodmare value and took her record to six win from 18 starts.
Racing Queensland webnews May 5