Fiesolana shocks rivals by claiming Ballyogan Stakes – Horseracing news
Fiesolana stunned her rivals by winning the Ballyogan Stakes (Group 3) in Ireland. She was not given the best odds for victory, but ran pretty well and got rewarded for her hard work in the end.
The winning trainer Willie McCreery was delighted with the outcome of the race and went onto praise jockey Colm O’Donoghue by saying, “That was a great ride. He's a Group One jockey. The plan was to jump out and go, but he never panicked. I said whatever
you do don't rush her. It was lucky all the others came off the rail. She came up the worst of the ground, but she likes an ease. I'm lucky to have her.”
There were some extremely talented stallions lined up for action in the all important competition, thus Fiesolana was given a general starting price of 10 to 1. She was expected to be fighting somewhere in the midfield and this was exactly what happened
at the start of the race.
The four-year-old filly was held up in the opening phases, but settled nicely in the midfield. However, she started making progress afterwards and there was no stopping her from that point. Since the overall distance to cover was just six furlongs, she had
to be extremely quick.
This was exactly what the Irish runner managed, as she came into the lead comfortably inside the final furlong. She had to hold her position from that point and there were no issues for her whatsoever. The margin of her victory was more than one length,
which was quite impressive.
Despite such a strong run from Fiesolana, McCreery has not decided about her future plans. He said, “I don't know where she'll go. I entered her in the Group Two Kilboy Estate Stakes over a mile and one at the Curragh (July 21). I had six seconds in Listed
races last year. It's great to get a Group winner.”
It seems that the talented filly will not get a chance to represent her camp at the Royal Ascot, but if she continues delivering such strong results, she will definitely make it there next season, which will be quite an achievement for her.
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