After the disappointment of the last run over 1600m, we dropped Amber back over the 1300m. This campaign was more about giving her a chance to enjoy racing by giving her a light prep, and only in sprints up to the mile. We wanted to boost her confidence, and let her build strength without a lot of racing. We still had a question regarding her ability to win over the sprints, as she'd proven in the Oaks as a 3yo that she had ample ability over distance.
We wanted to continue letting her jump and then take a position just off the speed and keep her coming from behind as she was doing. She was sent out a hot fav at $1.8. She jumped beautifully again and by the 800m was camped on the fence one back. The caller, David Wrensted, nailed it when he said "I hope it's not a repeat of last start" when it was obvious she needed an opening to be able to get through. All looked hopeless until the 300m when Roy pushed through the tiring horse outside him, and around the leader who itself laid out for the final 200m. It was a desperate piece of riding from McKay, but he just got up in the final stride. It landed him in the stewards room and he copped a 3 week suspension. See here the result. We were happy with the win, but we were lucky to get the win but it cost us Roy. As were to discover, this went on to play a further part later on in the preparation.
