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The decision to hit the road with Benoit was vindicated in style at Woodville on Saturday when the filly with a Group One pedigree opened her account.
The Cambridge visitor let down strongly in the straight to cruise away with the Taraua Club Juvenile for the very much in-form training combination of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
“It was either send her down there or go to the trials on the 13th so it worked out well,” Forsman said. “She got back and found the line strongly so that was good to see.“She wasn’t fully wound up for it and she should continue to show improvement.”
A half-sister by Domesday to the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes winner Ekstreme, she didn’t go through the auction ring but her year-older brother realised $240,000 at last year’s Ready to Run Sale at Karaka and as Mr Boomsday has been a winner in Australia.“She’s quite a small filly, but she has got a long stride and covers the ground well,” Forsman said. “She’s always been quite a natural and we’ll see how she goes race by race and how she stacks up against some of the better ones.”
Also a half-sister to her winning stablemate Zvonareva and the former open class sprinter Pellegrini, Benoit had been a trial winner in September before she was unplaced the following month in her raceday debut from the outside gate at Avondale.Benoit sat at the back of a small field at Woodville and when she saw clear air in the run home she lengthened stride effortlessly for rider Kelly Myers to stroll home by two and three-quarter lengths.
Pre-race dramas resulted in the debutants Ina Canta and Enshrine scratched at the barrier with the former dislodging Jonathan Riddell, who was unhurt in the incident, and the latter copping a blood nose after charging the gates.