Countess Delago A Little Too Good

Monday, 14 June 2010 14:00

The Colin Little trained Countess Delago lived up to her stylish Caulfield debut with a comfortable win in the $15,000 Chisholm Petroleum SV 2YO Fillies Maiden Plate (1115m) at Geelong.

Countess Delago ($2.50,$3) relaxed well off a solid tempo for Damien Oliver, standing the leaders as much as five lengths during the middle stages of the event.

For a few strides nearing the home turn it appeared Oliver would be pocketed behind the tiring front-runners but quick thinking by the premier jockey had the filly in clear running and she proved too classy, hitting the line strongly to score by more than a length from Rossan ($8,$11,$9.5) with the tiring Exceed And Excite ($2.50,$2.90) a further length away third.

Having just her second start the two-year-old raced greenly down the stretch but was still far too good leading Little to believe there is bigger and better things in store.

"She looks like a nice filly," said Little.

"I would like to take her to the city but there just isn't any 1200m fillies races around at the moment.

A full sister to the Group 2 winning mare De Lago Mist, Little is hoping his eye catching grey filly can replicate some of the early form shown by her silver counterpart.

"We might have to tip her out and I'm sure she will be even better next time in," he added.

The daughter of Encosta De Lago is a success story for connections who have made a conscience effort to increase the quality of their racing stock by spending more on better bred thoroughbreds said Little.

"I'm very pleased for connections," he said.

"They are having a real crack at putting some money into nicely bred fillies and it is paying dividends."

Photo by Quentin Lang