Lion Queen’s valiant win in Mares event

The aptly named Lion Queen (Control the Moment) lived up to her name with a courageous win in the Harry Capararo Westbred 4 and 5YO Mares race at Gloucester Park on Friday evening.

On the strength of her previous form Lion Queen was sent out a hot favourite with Ambitsiya the only other runner with some support.

In a fast early battle Our Lililou showed great speed but was eventually crossed by Relatively Arma. Lion Queen moved up alongside and was expected to take up the running but Maddison Brown on Relatively Arma seemed determined to hold the lead.

The pace was on early and Shannon Suvaljko on Lion Queen took a breather as they broke up the field up. However he was not going to get pocketed as he come off the fence again to race outside Relatively Arma.

At the business end of the race on the final corner Lion Queen asserted her superiority and despite the tough run she was able to hold off the fast finishing Lenora Jane by less than two metres with Our Lililou holding on for third placing.

LION QUEEN MAY 30 REPLAY

If there was an unlucky runner it was Lenora Jane as she was smothered away on the rails and didn’t obtain a clear run until well into the home straight.

However all credit goes to Lion Queen as she was forced to endure a torrid run and still run a third quarter of 27.8 seconds. Trained by Mike Reed the mare has now had 18 starts for 8 wins and 6 placings. She has raced in top company against other fillies and mares in her career and she will be a force in future mare’s classics as she matures.

Winning driver Shannon Suvaljko was full of praise for the striking black mare.

“Once Mitchell crossed (on Our Lililou) she had to burn to get to the front again. We were straight there and I thought we’ll test here.”

“I know she can run. She went 1.54 a couple of weeks ago so I thought she’s run 1.55 easy enough.”

“I was confident she could do a fast lead time and still be the one to beat. She proved it.”

“She’s really tough, she’s got high cruising speed. She’s always had it and she actually pricked her ears all the way down the straight.”

“If she got in front she wanted to wait for them. She’s a real quality horse.”

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink