She's Got it! And Venus Was Her Name

Sunday, 22 September 2002 00:00

High class mare Venus Was Her Name will be chasing a black type success over the spring carnival after an impressive second up win in the Dubai Racing Club Plate (1400m) at Caulfield today.

A daughter of Spectacular Love, Venus Was Her Name settled a little worse than midfield early before switching to the outside of the field and finishing too well for her rivals.

Having already performed with distinction in some of New Zealand's feature filly events the mare was purchased by the Sangster family's Swettenham Stud Syndicate.

Michael Moroney, who had been training the filly in New Zealand, kept control of the classy performer when she was shipped to Australia to continue her racing.

Today's win was the first time in five starts in Australia that she had finished in the money.

"She'd had a long preparation in New Zealand before she came across," Moroney said. "She was probably a bit tired."

With a good break and a handy first up effort recently at Sandown the mare was primed to return to her best this afternoon.

The mare's win was very impressive considering she covered her final 600 metres of the race in a slick 33.96 seconds, a touch more than half a second better than the overall race's sectional.

Moroney, who is hoping for further success this afternoon with another nine runners set to start, said Venus Was Her Name would improve on today's performance.

"She is going to get better as the distances increase," Moroney said. "There are some nice mares races coming up over the carnival and the 2000 metre event on the final day of the carnival looks ideal for her."

Winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy said after the race that the winner would be further suited over longer distance.

Over the concluding stages Venus Was Her Name proved too classy for her rivals winning by three quarters of a length from Sydney stakes performer Sophistocat, who snared second in a photo finish over Visage.

PICS - Quentin Lang.