Fillies qualify for $100,000 Group 1

Former star West Australian mare Tricky Styx has gone on to produce, with her first foal two-year-old filly Zephyra (Sweet Lou) making the final of harness racing’s Group 1 2022 2YO Diamond Classic after her win on Tuesday night at Gloucester Park.

Trained and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, the well-performed yet lightly raced youngster made her way to his stables just two starts ago when the Moore family decided it was in her best interest to head his way.

“The decision to send her to Dylan was due to problems that we were having with her feet, and we thought Dylan would be the best person to try and rectify these leading into the big races,” part-owner Hayley Moore said.

“Dad (Jesse Moore) had her in the best shape possible to the big races but sometimes there are things that are out of our control and moving her to Dylan’s has been the right move.”

Zephyra is the first foal out of Tricky Styx NZ and has now had five starts for three wins and two second placings.

“We aren’t expecting big things from her because she is out of Tricky Styx, her parents can’t help her once she gets on that track. As we have seen, champion mares don’t always throw nice racehorses.

“I just think we got lucky with Zephyra and all credit to her on what she has done so far on the track and can only hope she continues to improve like her mother did.

“So far, what she has done we couldn’t be happier and credit to Dad and Dylan for the job they have done to get her where she is, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing.”

Zephyra started as the $1.08 favourite on Tuesday and led all the way in her heat to win comfortably with a 14m margin in 2:01:8.

ZEPHYRA REPLAY

“She has pulled up well from Tuesday and Dylan couldn’t be happier.”

Tricky Styx is due to foal in three weeks time to Captain Crunch, which will be the 10-year-olds second foal.

“She had complications when foaling Zephyra so we gave her a couple of years off.”

The second of the heats went the way of the Barry Howlett owned and trained Flametree, who made it four in a row at Gloucester Park. After leading all the way from barrier two, which in turn was barrier one with the late scratching of Miss Willoughby, the $1.32 favourite never looked in doubt, going on to win by 2.5m in 2:04:5 over the 2130m on the rain effected track.

Flametree returned on Tuesday after a short let up after her last start win in the two-horse APG Gold Bullion final for the 2YO fillies, where she dominated and won by 21.5m. She has now had eight starts for five wins and two placings, only failing to salute the judge the once in her short career so far.

$51 shot Jackie Daniels brought up her first win and a one-way ticket to the Gr1 final for trainer and driver Brett Smith, the fastest qualifier of the night in winning mile rate of 2:01:5.

The win gave Smith a training and driving double on the night, as well as Brian Simeon an owning double, with Boston Rob taking out race 10 later in the night.

“I thought her run was reasonable considering she got shuffled back early and had to come wide. Hopefully she continues on.

“She is an easy horse to work with and a great pacer. She recovered well from Tuesday and I think with the right draw, she can run a decent race.”

The two-year-old by locally stood stallion Fly Like An Eagle is the third foal out of Nightwatch Lady, making her a half-sister to Nightwatch Star who has gone on to win nine races in NSW/ACT after winning her maiden here in WA in mid-2020.

The $100,000 Group 1 2YO Diamond Classic Final will be run next Friday the 19th of August, with the barrier draw set to come out next Tuesday live on TAB Radio’s One-Out-One-Back with Matt Young, tune in between 9am and 10am to hear it all.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA