Nolarama too good in Sprint

TALENTED Victorian mare Nolarama secured a place in the $200,000 Chariots Of Fire at Harold Park on March 7 by taking out the $27,000 Ascot Car Rental Paleface Adios Sprint (1760 metres) last Friday night. The only mare in the 10-horse field, Nolarama (John Caldow) showed good gate speed to hold the front after an early battle with Pick Handles (Chris Alford). Nolarama (m, 4, Panorama-Forest Glow) went through the first quarter in 29.6, followed by splits of 30.9, 30.4 and 28.0, recording a mile rate of 1:57.4. On the line Nolarama held a two metre margin over Dinki Di (Steve Turnbull), with Playing With Fire (Brian Hancock) a gallant third, a metre back. "Bring on the Chariots," trainer Maree Caldow declared after the race. "The whole purpose of bringing her to Sydney for the Paleface was to give the selectors a look at her. After winning there isn't much more she can do." Before the race Caldow predicted Nolarama would have to better 1:58.0 to win the four-year-old feature, which she did, in a career best time. "I knew she could lead, run fast time and win," Caldow said. "She has run sub two-minutes on three or four occasions and some of them have been off the track. Barrier one was our trump card tonight. "That was a very appealing aspect of the trip because the race was a preferential barrier draw. Once I knew she would draw one my confidence was high. "Personally, I think she is better with a sit but she doesn't like anything going past her when she's in front, so that gave me a reason to smile when John (Caldow) held the lead." Caldow said Nolarama had come a long way since her last victory at the Glebe circuit back on May 31, 2002. On that occasion she contested a NSW Sires' Stakes semi-final. "I expected her to come back a much better horse this season," she said. "She easily took out her semi-final of the NSW Sires? but a week later in the final she drew barrier 13 on a wet track and was caught three-wide. You just cannot win under those circumstances. "She is only lightly-raced but is getting a lot more experience with each run. Tonight was her ninth win from 11 starts this season. "Her only two defeats came when she was attacked in front and finished second to Mindful, and then a third placing behind seasoned mares Lagoon Lady and Lombo Rapida three starts ago." Caldow said she will now concentrate on finding suitable races for Nolarama in the lead-up to the Chariots Of Fire. Andrew Georgiou