Promising filly Bedtime Story is turning into a dream for her connections.
The daughter of Per Incanto was runner-up on debut at Woodville last month and was duly backed into $1.60 favouritism for the DMAK Electrical & Air Condition 3YO Maiden (1200m) at Hastings on Sunday.
From her outside gate in the compact five-horse field, Bedtime Story settled in fourth just behind the speed where she was given an economical trip by jockey Kozzi Asano. The northern hoop guided his charge into the one-one heading out of the back straight before navigating her wide when turning for home where she was able to show a good turn of foot in the Heavy9 track conditions to score a 1-3/4 length victory.
Trainer Guy Lowry was impressed with her performance and is predicting a bright future for the filly.
“She has improved from her first start, she is improving all of the time. She is a nice filly going forward,” he said.
“You never know on a wet track, but we had indications that she would handle it.”
Bedtime Story is raced by breeder the Dowager Duchess of Bedford and is the first horse she has had in Lowry’s barn, and it is proving to be a flourishing partnership.
“I have known her (Dowager Duchess of Bedford) for a while and she has always been meaning to give me a horse, so it’s nice to have a good filly for her as the first one,” Lowry said.
Lowry is planning to take it quietly with Bedtime Story, with her next outing set to be at Trentham next month.
“She may head to Wellington on the 23rd (of December), there is a set weights and penalties three-year-old race over 1200m,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lowry said Zambezi Khan is enjoying a spell following her run in the Gr.2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) at Flemington earlier this month.
The daughter of Mongolian Khan will continue to race in Australia in autumn, with Lowry eyeing some Oaks targets in the southern states.
“She pulled up shin sore after the Wakeful, so we put her out for a spell,” he said.
“She will be set for the Tasmanian Oaks (Listed, 2100m) and South Australian Oaks (Gr.1 2000m).
“Every owner’s dream is to have a horse run for a bit of money over in Australia. She is definitely good enough, she has paid her way so far, I think she is a nice filly.”