22 February 2018 | Ken Casellas
Detroit Lilly, the least experienced runner in the 8 On The Point Chinese Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night, arrived in Western Australia from New Zealand a month ago and has the ability to fight out the finish at her Australian debut with several well-performed three-year-old fillies, including Cott Beach, Slick Artist, Lady De La Renta and Infinite Symbol.
Prepared at Forrestdale by Skye Bond, Detroit Lily is awkwardly drawn at No. 5 on the front line but she possesses sparkling gate speed and Ryan Warwick should be able to settle her in a forward position.
Warwick drove Detroit Lily in a 2150m Byford trial three Sundays ago when she began smartly from barrier six in a field of eight and mustered plenty of speed to dash to the front after 250m before setting the pace and winning convincingly by a neck from Allwood Peacemaker at a 1.59.2 rate.
She had only two starts in New Zealand, winning on debut at Wyndham on November 19 last year and finishing second at Invercargill on December 9.
At Wyndham, Detroit Lily began from barrier five in a field of 14 and surged to the front after 300m. She set the pace and won, unextended, in a time of 1.55.4 over 1609m. At Invercargill she started from the back line and quickly moved to the one-out, one-back position before racing without cover for much of the final circuit when second to Nota Bene Denario (beaten by five lengths) in a field of 11.
Detroit Lily, by Betterthancheddar, is the eighth foal out of Abercrombie mare Acropolis. She is a half-sister to former smart mare Yankee Dream, who earned $277,214 from 15 wins and 18 placings from 56 starts.
As a two-year-old in May 2009 Yankee Dream won a $156,000 Group 1 fillies championship at Alexandra Park. Three years later she won four races in Victoria and she had her final three starts at Gloucester Park in November-December 2012. She was unplaced in her three WA appearances, with her best effort her sixth behind Baby Bling in the Group 1 Mares Classic.
Cott Beach, prepared by Coolup trainer Kristy Elson, has won ten times from 18 starts for earnings of $185,117 and she is sure to prove hard to beat, even with the disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line. Nathan Turvey is expected to use her dazzling gate speed in a bid for the early lead.
Cott Beach began brilliantly from barrier nine in the Group 2 Daintys Daughter Classic last Friday week when she set a brisk pace before wilting to finish third behind Slick Artist and Infinite Symbol.
Slick Artist, who finished strongly after enjoying a perfect trail three back on the pegs, gave a splendid frontrunning display to win easily over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday. She is drawn out wide at barrier eight, but trainer Gary Hall Snr declared that she is getting better with every run. “She ran home in 27.1sec. in a weak field on Monday and must be considered,” Hall said.
In-form reinsman Chris Voak said that Lady De La Renta had sound winning prospects, even from the outside of the back line. “She is very talented and I rate her right up there with the best of them here,” he said. “I think the draw will suit and I’d say she is one of the main chances.”
Lady De La Renta, trained by Annie Belton, had a very hard run before finishing at the rear in the Daintys Daughter Classic. But she was most impressive at her previous outing when she worked hard in the breeze and won from smart colts Bechers Brook and Speed Man.
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