While the feature race focus has been on Adelaide over the past few weeks, South Australian trainer Michael Hickmott sent handy four-year-old mare Fancify to Caulfield where she scored a comfortable victory in the Rod Griffiths Handicap (1400m).
The daughter of Niagara was perfectly ridden by in-form apprentice Jaylah Kennedy comfortably finding the lead and controlling the tempo throughout before kicking away from her rivals in the home straight.
It was the ninth metropolitan winner this season for Kennedy, daughter of Wingatui-based trainers Terry and Debbie Kennedy.
“I ran the race to suit my horse out in front. That’s the way she likes to do it and it makes things a lot easier,” Kennedy said.
“She’s very tractable. When I asked her to come back underneath me, she did that instantly and it helped us have plenty of petrol in the tank late.
“I just had to ride my race to suit my horse. I think if a runner had come up outside me at the top of the straight, I still would have won, maybe even by a bit further. She is still only lightly raced, and she had a fair look around in front.”
Bred and raced by well-known New Zealand racing photographer Trish Dunell, Fancify has now won four of her nine career starts, with a further three runner-up finishes. The mare began her career in New Zealand where she was a trial winner for Levin trainer Ilone Kelly.
Dunell remains a shareholder in Fancify’s sire Niagara, a Group Two winning son of Encosta de Lago, who stands at Vicki Wilson’s Hau Ora Farm in Kahuranaki, south of Hastings.
Out of Laced Up, a Keeninsky half-sister to Group One winners Jimmy Choux and Miss Wilson, Fancify is a sibling to three other winners including Unlaced, who was fourth in the Gr.2 Lowland Stakes (2100m).
New Zealand breeders tasted early success at Caulfield, with the Oaks Stud bred and raced He’s Beset landing the third victory of his career when narrowly prevailing in the Ian Miller Handicap (1400m) for trainer Nick Ryan.
By Darci Brahma out of Group Two winner Obsession, He’s Beset is a full brother to Group Two winner and multiple Group One placegetter Harlech.