Bart's Faith Pays Off Again For Michelle
- Saturday, 05 June 2010 03:23
Jockey Michelle Payne broke a run of 77 losing rides in the city when she won the Geoffrey Levett Handicap at Flemington this afternoon with Sunday Rose.
Sunday Rose is owned and trained by Bart Cummings, who trained her last city winner which was Allez Wonder in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap in October last year.
Sunday Rose started favourite at $3.60 after drifting from her opening quote of $2.70, but Payne had her concerns before the race.
"She had me worried before the start", Payne admitted.
"She was really in a muck lather and a lot more fired up than last start."
Sunday Rose started the race towards the rear in tenth place of the fifteen horse field.
"I wanted to get cover for the first part of the race without really going to the back and I got into a nice position", Payne explained.
But then things started to get a bit messy from the point of view of anyone who had backed the favourite.
"The ones in front of me were rolling about a bit", Payne said.
"I was a bit worried about which track to take because every run I went for seemed to close when I got there."
At around the 400m mark, Payne found clear running.
"Luckily enough I got out with plenty of time", she said.
"She took a bit to wind up and went to run in when I first went for her so I swapped the whip through and she went to the line and ran it out well."
At the post Sunday Rose had a length to spare from Dorsoduro ($15-$17) which rocketed home from second last at the 400m.
A further three quarters of a length away was the early leader Happy Angel ($11-$12-$11), while Xian ($51) put in an eye catching run for fourth.
Photos: Fiona Tomlin
