Twist And Twirl sent a message to her rivals winning the last of three Breeders Crown heats at Lords Raceway Wednesday night
Kiwi 3yo filly Twist And Twirl posted her first Australian victory in a heat of the Australasian Breeders Crown at Bendigo’s Lord’s Raceway on Wednesday night and did it in brilliant style.
Starting the $2.20 favourite for trainer/driver Mark Purdon, the Breckon Bloodstock owned and bred daughter of Artsplace, posted the quickest time of the three heats, recording a 1:57.5 mile rate for the 2150 metres.
It was a top performance by Twist And Twirl. The race was run in heavy, steady rain and Twist and Twirl got through from the back row to be ahead of three others out of the gate.
It was a tactical first 600 metres with Purdon electing to make his move 1000 metres from home.
Going through a 28.1 second quarter of the last mile Twist And Twirl strode forward to open up a seven metre lead at the bell.
With all the momentum, Twist And Twirl was running the opposition off their legs.
Down the back the filly paced 28.9 and Purdon turned for home with a commanding break with Twist And Twirl getting home in 29.6, holding a nine metre winning margin.
Beauty Secret, which has a number of Bendigo owners, did a mighty job for trainer Emma Stewart and driver Daryl Douglas to take second place ahead of Blazeaway Macray (Amy Tubbs) which finished on well to round out the top three.
Earlier in the night shorted priced $1.50 favourite Shake It Mama, took out the first heat of the Crown for Emma Stewart and Chris Alford.
The big Mach Three filly locked into a speed battle with La Machane (Greg Sugars) over the last 600 metres and the duo drew well clear of the field approaching the final turn.
Shake It Mama stuck to her task to win by 1.2 metres over stablemate The Good Times (Nathan Jack), another filly with Bendigo connections, with Braeview Creation getting to the line strongly for Lisa Miles in third place ahead of La Machane.
The winner covered the last half mile in 57.1 seconds. Lisa Miles drove the perfect race on Art Major filly Paintball to win the second of the Crown heats.
Paintball ($27.80) finished strongly, recording a sizzling last half of 56.1 seconds to snatch victory from long shot Overthorns by a head with Ymbro Toto a half neck away in third place. The short-price race favourite Louvre led early but tired to finish fifth.
Twist And Twirl, Shake It Mama and Paintball will now continue their journey towards the Blue Chip Farms Breeders Crown Final, a Group 1 event for 3yo Fillies carrying $176,000 in stakes at Tabcorp Park Melton on August 19.