Milanova Could Be the Oaks Trail Blazer

Thursday, 03 October 2002 00:00

Blue-blooded filly Milanova is on target to rectify a Lindsay Park "anomaly" in winning the Crown VRC Oaks later this spring.

It seems amazing but among all the trophies and premierships of the Hayes dynasty the VRC Oaks remains dubiously absent.

Head trainer Tony McEvoy is hopeful Milanova can claim the classic staying test that has eluded the stable for so long.

A $700,000 yearling purchase, Milanova would be one of the best-bred fillies in the country. She is by arguably the world’s best stallion – Danehill – from the best female line in the American studbook – a Secretariat daughter of champion race and broodmare Fanfreluche. She is closely related to top class Australian performers Flying Spur, Encosta de Lago, and French Braids.

"She is already a very valuable filly, but to add some more black type to her record is the aim," McEvoy said. "I think she will be ideally suited to a race like the Oaks. The best stayer doesn’t necessarily win; it’s the horses that can settle and have that brilliance at the finish that usually win it. She’s got that."

McEvoy gave the filly just four starts as a two-year-old. She won on debut then finished fourth in three consecutive stakes races, her last before a behind Lashed in the Sires Produce Stakes at Morphettville in May.

Second-up this time in, though, stepping up to the mile of the Listed Lindsay Park Guineas at Morphettville last month, the filly hinted at bigger things to come.

"Not many horses go into a stakes race over a mile second-up and win as well as she did," McEvoy said. "Her pedigree suggests she’ll have no trouble with the mile-and-a-quarter and further. I’ve no doubt she’ll be better over more ground and she also has a lot of scope for improvement."

The filly will take another step towards the Oaks this Saturday in the Group 2 Blazer Edward Manifold Stakes (1620m) at Flemington. The Manifold has proven a good pointer to the VRC Oaks with 14 fillies having completed the double. The Lindsay Park stable hasn’t won the race since 1987, with Midnight Fever.

"She pulled up really well after her second-up run and went to Flemington very early to settle in, which she’s done. Now she just has to take the next step."

Meanwhile, Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes will prove a pivotal race for the ultra-consistent Fields Of Omagh.

He will carry 59kg in the set weights and penalties Group 2 test and meets the likes of Northerly on level weight terms.

"This is as good a race as you’ll find this spring," McEvoy said. "He is going great but this is his toughest test."

If Fields Of Omagh is able to win, though, it will leave McEvoy with a happy conundrum as to where to run next. The gelding has been handicapped with 53.5kg for the Caulfield Cup and will drop 5.5kg for that event. The Cox Plate, though, at weight-for-age, is the other option.

"If he can match it with horses like Northerly with that weight, then he’ll be very hard to beat in the Caulfield Cup," McEvoy said. "But, if he’s going that well, maybe the Cox Plate is an option. It would be a pleasant dilemma to be in."

PIC - Jenny Barnes.

Media Release - Jason Hickson (TRSA)