Exciting southern mare The Grey Goose continued her faultless preparation with an impressive performance to win Sunday’s Hyde Landscaping and Wash Rite Winton Cup (1400m) at Ascot Park.

Prepared at the course by Jo-Ann Gordon, The Grey Goose rose through the grades last term culminating in a victory in the ODT Southern Mile Final (1600m), before finishing a game fourth in the TAB Southern Alps Challenge (1600m).

Returning from a lengthy spell, the daughter of Reliable Man showed her customary strong finish to win fresh-up at Wingatui on Melbourne Cup Day, and with Rohan Mudhoo back in the saddle, she was rated a $2 chance ahead of Willis ($4.50) in the local feature.  

The Grey Goose was away positively from barrier five but soon settled back, with the only runner in her rearview being Willis, who missed the start by five lengths. Racing fiercely at times behind a slow tempo, Mudhoo angled The Grey Goose out three and four-wide approaching the home turn and she soon was in the fight with pacemaker The Good Shepherd, who didn’t lay down and was only beaten a half-length by the mare at the post.

Willis was an eye-catcher in the field, storming into third under Tina Comignaghi.

Often seen settling well back in her races, Gordon was pleased to see The Grey Goose so prominent in the running on Sunday.

“It’s nice to see this year that she’s keeping up with them a lot more, last year she could be five-six lengths off the second last horse at times,” she said. I thought this may be too short for her and the track has dried out, so I thought she might struggle.

“They do usually run off the front, but today, they didn’t go too hard and she sat there quite comfortably, in fact she was over-racing. It was a good win, really nice.

“We’ve always really rated her but I’ve always spaced her races to keep head right. This year, she’s grown up a lot, she’s been lovely to be with all day.

“We’re getting there slowly.”

Before the race, Gordon had indicated the upcoming Southern Staying Series was an appeal for The Grey Goose, but her performance over 1400m could warrant a change in plans.  

“I was looking at the Southern Staying Series after Christmas, but I always thought a mile was her distance,” she said.

“We’ll just keep her shorter, around 1400 for a bit and go from there.”

The Grey Goose was a $2000 purchase through gavelhouse.com as a weanling and she is raced by Maurice Paskell. From just 16 starts, she has won six races and over $245,000 in stakes.

The five-year-old is out of an unraced Sakhee’s Secret mare Out Of The Barn, who also produced Mother Goose, a winner of two races for Gordon’s stable.