The forecast on Friday was for Hazardous levels of smoke haze, conditions that would put the meeting at Kensington in doubt. As the smoke rolled in just like it has for the past few months, the stewards deemed conditions safe enough to race in and the meeting proceeded under the Armageddon like sky.
John saddled up just the one runner in race 4 – Tab Heineken 3 Handicap over the staying distance of 2400m. Carrying the Tricolours Racing silks was the in form MISS MOANA ridden by Chris Williams. Jumping cleanly from Barrier 4 as the field passed the post for the first time Miss Moana found the front with ease. Travelling for most of the journey with an uncontested lead, the mare by Uncle Mo was putting in some solid sectionals that allowed her to get the advantage on her rivals when it came crunch time. 600m left to run and as Continuation tries to edge closer, Miss Moana is still crusing ahead by 2 lengths not showing any signs of coming back to the rest of the field (last 600 ran home in 0:36.56)
200m out from the post and Chris Williams encouraging the mare to keep going, she notches into another gear to extend her lead and outstay the rest of the field by just under 3 lengths to keep Williams record in the Tricolours silks going strong. Williams has now ridden the mare for three times now for 2 wins and 1 second.
When Miss Moana returned to her box Friday, she headed straight for her feed bin and ate up well. Saturday morning for her then consisted of being trotted up in front of John and the vet to ensure that she had come through the run without any injuries, as expected the horse has come through the run very well.
Considering how well she has come through Friday’s assignment, John and the connections will now look to test the mare at a quick back up when she looks to take her place in the Christmas Cup over the same distance of 2400m on Saturday at Randwick.
Congratulations to all the connections associated with the horse on yet another win by the mare and no doubt if she is winning on Saturday there will be loud cheers in the owners lawn and big smiles in the winning owners room – Good Luck to everyone for Saturday.
