 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2010
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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De Lovely showed talents her mother didn't whe she slayed the best fillies in town at Addington last Friday night. She sped away from 13 others in the $125,000 Wayne Francis Memorial New Zealand Oaks, cracking the New Zealand record of 3:11.8 set by Pullover Brown by running the 2600 mobile in 3:10.9.
This was a steamy mile rate of 1:58.1, and driver David Butcher said there was "no real let-up" in the tempo of the race from the start. Butcher was up and gone from the second line soon after the start, with the pace set at various times by the stablemates Meredith Maguire, then Secret Potion and from the 800m by Lancome.
Butcher had De Lovely tucked in within three lengths of the leader at that stage, and most were starting to feel the pinch turning in. De Lovely descended on them so quickly that she was level, past and clear inside 50 metres. "Her mother" - Copper Beach, who won the Oaks in 2004 - "couldn't have done that," said Butcher. "She could wind up and keep going, but this filly is better gaited and has more sheer speed. She could be as quick as anything I've driven, and that puts her up there with TinTin In America."
Butcher has noticed a new dimension to her growing abilities, and after a quiet race last week he wasn't afraid to see if she had it. "I asked a bit more of her tonight, and she stepped up a notch."
The race was also a triumph for the rising 29-year-old Falcon Seelster, who has had a long and remarkable influence as a sire in Australasia. Nevele R purchased the horse in 1995, and he has been notable for endless numbers of top performers, 269 who have gone 2.00 or better. As a broodmare sire, the exciting Franco Emirate is from the Falcon Seelster mare Elisit Franco, who won three of sixteen starts and is the dam of a yearling colt by Live Or Die.
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HRNZ Website
It was another classic David Butcher drive and another Geoff Small New Zealand Oaks. De Lovely burst away from her rivals in New Zealand Record time last Friday night to give Small his fourth win in the Group 1 feature.
The pace was on from the outside with Suidelike Meisie firstly then Meredith Maguire leading. Butcher was first to move from the midfield on De Lovely and once Secret Potion had found the front he ended up lobbing the one-one for the ride home. Lancome made a dashing move to lead down the back straight the last time but life didn’t change for De Lovely and Butcher until he showed her clear air rounding the home bend.
De Lovely burst out of the one-one like a cannon and quickly put the race beyond doubt. Lancome fought well and the remaining minors were battled out between Meredith Maguire, Royal Cee Cee and Secret Potion.
De Lovely pulled together a nice link with her win also. The Wayne Francis Memorial NZ Oaks was won by a daughter of Falcon Seelster, a stallion Francis was instrumental in bringing to our shores in the mid nineties.
The crowning glory of De Lovely’s win was the New Zealand record she posted. 3.10.9 clipped 0.9 of a second of another Small Oaks winner’s time, Pullover Brown, in 2003.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 26May2010