Michael Stanley and Petacular win Heat 1 of the Nevele R Stud Victoria Oaks at Tabcorp Park Melton.
Petacular and Shezallapples won their Nevele R Stud Victoria Oaks heats at Tabcorp Park Melton last night.
Touted as the best filly of her age in Victoria, Petacular notched her 12th win at start No.17 in a mile rate of 1:56.3 to take out her heat and will start a short-priced favourite in next Friday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Final at Melton.
Tonight's heats showed it will be no procession, however, for the Burrumbeet filly from Michael Stanley’s stable.
Sydneysider Shezallapples looked strong winning the second heat, albeit in a slower time of 1:57.7.
Trained by David Thorn, Shezallapples, like Petacular, was a Group 1 winner at two via the Breeders Challenge Final at Menangle.
Driven by Jim Douglass, Shezallapples controlled the Oaks heat once in front. She had 5m to spare over Sanna Cruza in the finish, the latter handing up the lead to the winner early, while Keayang Secret finished third for Jason Lee.
Emma Stewart-trained Miss Graceland finished second to Petacular last night, beaten 2.3m, but driver Chris Alford was pleased with the run and tweeted post-race his filly could potentially turn the tables on the favourite in the big dance. “I thought Miss Graceland went super, hopefully draw better next week and reverse result,” he wrote.
If Miss Graceland does defeat Petacular it will be the first time she’s ever been able to do it, the head-to-head record between the pair reading six-zip in favour of Petacular for now.
Flying Moth, Beach Garden and Our Lady Madonna rounded out the top six in heat two, while Anybeach Anywhere, Sheza Sharpie, Nomi Malone and Angel In White finished third to sixth in the first heat.
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Cody Winnell (HRV Media/Communications Manager)
t: 03 8378 0288 | e: cwinnell@hrv.org.au | tw: @codywinnell
