Ananz gets home in her Breeders Crown semi final
Ananz will enter next Sunday's Australasian Breeders Crown two-year-old fillies final the horse to beat following a gutsy win in her semi final at Bendigo tonight.
Not even the outside-front-row draw and a torrid run could deny the Peter Manning-trained star, who proved too tough for some of Australasia's best fillies in the 2150-metre event.
She recorded her 17th win from 19 starts when she got home by a metre at $2.70 from Ay Tee Em ($7) with For Dear Life ($2.60) a further metre back in third spot.
It was a typically gritty display from the daughter of Aces N Sevens. Chris Alford, filling in for the suspended Kerryn Manning, attempted to slot into the running line from the start but when he couldn't do that he was planted three wide.
Ananz wasn't there for long, though, with Alford sooling her around the field to find the spot outside early leader For Dear Life a lap and a half from home.
After a 63.5-second first half of the last mile was followed up by a 29.4-second third quarter, For Dear Life looked the horse to beat, but Ananz dug deep in the straight, grabbing the lead 100m out before holding off the fast-finishing Ay Tee Em.
It's a good thing she proved she could win from the outside of the front row as that's where she will be starting from in the $301,000 Group 1 final, to be run at Bendigo on what is Australia's richest country raceday of any code.
Thanks to the driving rain that commenced almost immediately after the meeting began, Ananz's mile rate of 2:01.2 was significantly slower than the 1:58.6 Twist N Shout clocked in the opening two-year-old fillies qualifier.
The Doug Gale-trained daughter of Badlands Hanover, whose only two wins from 14 starts have been in her Breeders Crown heat and tonight's semi, scooted home along the sprint lane to grab the lead inside the final 25 metres.
On the line the Kiwi raider, an $8.50 chance, had a head to spare over $2.70 favourite Dreams Of Heaven with Australian Pacing Gold winner Keppel Bay ($10), who came with a booming run from the tail of the field in a 59-second last half mile, was close up in third spot.
Also progressing to the final was fourth placegetter, Tasmanian visitor Karalta Crown, while fifth and sixth placegetters Broadways Best and Miss Athens go through as the next two quickest qualifiers.
Miss Athens was one of the big winners from the barrier draw, landing gate one, with other key draws including Life Inthefastlane (two), Keppel Bay (four), For Dear Life (five), Ay Tee Em (six) and Twist N Shout (11).
Final Field: (front) Miss Athens, Life Inthefastlane, Broadways Best, Keppel Bay, For Dear Life, Ay Tee Em, Ananz; (back) Golden Showgirl (emerg), Karalta Crown, Dreams Of Heaven, Twist N Shout.