6
July, 2004
The 2004 Nevele R Stud Victoria Oaks will showcase a
stellar cast of three-year-old fillies this Friday night with representatives
from four Australian states and both islands of New Zealand gathering at Moonee
Valley.
With NZ Oaks winner Copper Beach (pictured) placed
out of the draw (gate 13) after last week?s semi final and boom New South Wales
filly Village Swinger drawing poorly in gate seven, the $50,000 classic has
opened right up following today?s barrier draw.
Last start Queensland Oaks winner, the Kiwi raider
Turkana, is poised to challenge for favouritism after drawing to again attempt
an all-the-way victory from gate three.
Trainer Bruce Negus, back in Melbourne for the first
time since his former stable star Courage Under Fire was tragically beaten as
favourite in the $1m Interdom 2000 Final, will be hoping Turkana can quickly
arrest his run of bad luck at headquarters.
Fellow Kiwi Copper Beach, a stablemate of last
year?s Oaks winner Pullover Brown, produced an Herculean performance in her
Prelude after losing a conservative 50 metres courtesy of an early gallop
before recovering to run second to Lucky Bonus.
The Paul Fitzpatrick-trained Village Swinger, a
winner of her past seven starts, headlines the Australian assault despite
making her Group 1 debut on Friday night.
The field for the $50,000 Nevele R Stud Victoria
Oaks (Group 1), to be run over 2570 metres at Moonee Valley this Friday at
9.47pm, is;
1.
Perfect
Lignum (SA)??????????? Leah Harvey??????????????????????????????? Leah Harvey
2.
Lucky
Bonus (VIC)?????????????? Ron Pocock??????????????????????????????? Driver TBA
3.
Turkana
(NZ)??????????????????????? Bruce Negus?????????????????????????????? Ricky May
4.
Yada
Yada Yada (VIC)???????? Andy Gath?????????????????????????????????? Kerryn Gath
5.
Nemeeshar
(VIC)???????????????? Jayne Davies????????????????????????????? Chris Alford
6.
Machinegun
Molly (NSW)??? Sonia Mahar??????????????????????????????? Driver TBA
7.
Village
Swinger (NSW)??????? Paul Fitzpatrick?????????????????????????? Blake Fitzpatrick (C)
---------------------Second
Row---------------------------------------------------------------------
8.
October
Original (QLD)?????? Peter Donohoe??????????????????????????? Alan Donohoe
9.
Moment
In Time (VIC)????????? Alan Tubbs????????????????????????????????? Amy Tubbs (C)
10.
Its
Only Money (NSW)???????? Paul Fitzpatrick?????????????????????????? Driver TBA
11.
Unique
Babe (SA) [Emerg]? Garry Butler???????????????????????????????? Garry Butler
12.
Spare
The Thought (QLD)?? Shannon Price??????????????????????????? Scott Kunde
13.
Copper
Beach (NZ)????????????? Geoff Small???????????????????????????????? David Butcher
