Three-year-old filly Flojos Gold is nothing like her namesake off the racetrack, but put her in a set of harness, and, like Flo-Jo, she does the job.
Brilliantly driven by Luke Watson, Flojos Gold landed her second feature win on Saturday night at Globe Derby Park winning the 2016 Ubet South Australian Oaks (2230m).
A $9.30 chance, the filly finished best to score a 1-1/2 metre win from the game Queen of Sharkz ($6.30) with the $1.30 favourite Celebrity Guest five metres away third.
American athlete Florence Griffith-Joyner (Flo-Jo) was named as the fastest woman in the world in the late 1980s and thrived on the attention, especially with her long and colourful fingernails.
Ian Watson, from South Merbein in Victoria, purchased a filly at the 2014 APG Sale with a group of Mildura harness enthusiasts, Chris Clohesy, Richard Tankard, Daniel Tankard, Bill Robinson and Steve Johnson taking ownership with the trainer.
Named Flojos Gold, the filly made an immediate impact winning her first start at Globe Derby Park in June last year.
Just three starts later, Flojo Gold came home the winner of the Group One Empire Stallions Vicbred Super Series final for two-year-old fillies at Melton.
Flojos Gold has flown under the radar of the mainstream media, and Saturday night’s Oaks win was her sixth from just nine starts.
But driver Luke Watson, son of the trainer, said he had not been too confident going into the Oaks.
“I thought we might be in a bit of trouble from gate eight,” Watson said, “not because she doesn’t have the ability but rather I thought it was going to be too hard to get into the race.
“My thoughts pre-race was that there wouldn’t be too much action and the race could develop into a sprint home which would put Flojos Gold giving away too much start.
“I was pleasantly surprised that the race in fact had plenty of action and that I had a really good run and everything worked out perfectly.
“Good luck rather than good driving,” Watson said, deflecting praise of his drive and saying Flojos Gold would now almost certainly head to the Victoria Oaks.
Watson found himself three back on the rails in the run but was able to come one off midway down the back straight on the final lap, then move three wide and the filly sprinted home strongly to grab the lead in the final 20 metre to win.
While Flojos Gold continues to achieve, it would be remiss not to mention the effort of the runner-up Queen of Sharkz.
Driver Wayne Hill went forward from gate five at barrier release but found himself caught wide and went back to last.
Once the field had settled down and with a lap and a half to travel he dashed the filly around the outside to sit outside the leader, the red-hot favourite Celebrity Guest.
Despite the hard run Queen of Sharkz kept coming and put the pressure on the favourite with a 28.5 third quarter and looked a possible winner she took an advantage over the favourite but Flojos Gold appeared at just the right time.
Both fillies could meet again in the Victoria Oaks as trainer Tyson Linke is considering a Melbourne trip for his tough three-year-old.
Disappointment of the Oaks was the red hot favourite Celebrity Guest which had two comfortable first quarters of 31.8 but found the pressure too much in the run home.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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