Selsey Anne wins her second Oaks heat

Having finished first equal in the first heat of the Macca Lodge/Nevele R Stud Southern Oaks Series at Oamaru last week, the Mark Jones trained Selsey Anne (Lather Up) won the second heat outright at the Wyndham Harness Racing Club meeting at Wyndham today.

The dead heat at Oamaru earned zero rating points for Selsey Anne and Delightful Peg so they were able to line up today as one win horses.

“We were lucky to be in the field with the dead heat last week. It was a bit of a no brainier to come back and race against the same horses,” Jones said.

Today’s race over 2400 metres was a bit cat and mouse with all five runners angling for the best shot of victory.
Tosana led for most of the trip with Selsey Anne and driver Sam Ottley at the back of the field. At the 1000 metres Blair Orange and Rakavenom eased off the inside running line and both Mystical and Selsey Anne followed suit.

Turning in, Ottley peeled Selsey Anne off Mythical’s back and she let down nicely to get up and beat Tosana by one and a quarter lengths.

SELSEY ANNE REPLAY

“It’s the way we have to drive her. We drove her hard in one race and she let us down. She’s got good speed and that’s the way we have to drive her. You do need luck, and a small field helps.”

The winning time was 2-57.6. The three year old fillies track record of 2-56.4 for the 2400 metre mobile is held by Joes Rock.

The Group Two $60,000 Macca Lodge/Nevele R Stud Southern Oaks Final over 2700 metres will be held at Ascot Park on Sunday 27th April as part of Diamonds Day.

Referring to the final Jones said “She’s got the speed to go with them but it’s whether she’s tough enough, that’s the thing. It’s just a great series for these types of horses as we can keep away from Beside Me (laughter).”

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink