HORSE RACING: Posavina fronts up in stakes victory

RICHARD EDMUNDS | 8th March 2010

Aided by a perfect front-running ride by David Walsh, Posavina won the group 3 Homebush Partnership Masterton Lowland Stakes with a spectacular performance that thrust her right into contention for the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks at Trentham in two weeks.

Posavina has the right pedigree and background to be a real contender in a classic such as the Oaks - she's a daughter of a Sadler's Wells mare and is owned and bred by Peter and Phillip Vela, who are known for their exploits in fillies' races in New Zealand and Australia with such high-class horses as Ethereal, Romanee Conti, Lafleur and Insouciant to name just a few.

However, her career to date had given little cause for confidence that she had the potential to reach a similar level to some of those names, and despite signs of significant improvement in her last-start sixth behind Katie Lee in the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic at Te Rapa, she went out at odds of 20-1 in Saturday's Lowland.

But with Walsh producing the type of beautifully timed ride out in front he has long been known for, Posavina produced the breakthrough performance her connections would have been desperately hoping for. Her rivals realised they were in trouble as she approached the home turn with a decent lead, and they quickly got to work to chase her down.

The fact that Posavina switched off in the closing stages of the race and the likes of Keep The Peace ran home strongly in the final stages meant the final margin of a length and a quarter somewhat flattered the beaten runners.

The way that Keep The Peace, Miss Sharapova and Corsage finished the race would give their connections reasons to be optimistic heading into the Oaks, but the fact is that Posavina was clearly superior on the day.

It initially appeared that the big disappointment of the race was the highly promising second favourite, Sirani. But a post-race vet inspection found she had suffered an injury to the left fore suspensory tendon. That probably means the end of the road for her from an Oaks point of view, but she will keep and there is sure to be a nice race for her at some point in the future.

Champion trainer Mark Walker once again missed out on that elusive Derby win at Ellerslie on Saturday, finishing fourth and sixth, but he has a very strong record in New Zealand's other three classics - the Oaks and the two Guineas races at Riccarton - and looks to have a strong chance of continuing that with a second Oaks win this season. As well as Posavina, he has the consistent Corsage and three other Vela-owned fillies - Pezzaglia, Miraflores and Pomellato.

Wet weather had an impact on the first Lowland Stakes day to be held in the Bay, but the track held up well and raced fairly as a Dead 4 surface.