By Bren O'Brien
Godolphin's wealth of riches headed towards the G1 Golden Slipper S. grew even stronger with Pin Sec's (Lonhro) brilliant win in the G3 John McGrath Auto Group Black Opal S. at Canberra.
The Black Opal has produced future Group 1 winners Trapeze Artist (Snitzel), Epaulette (Commands), Criterion (Sebring) and Takedown (Stratum) in recent years and may have unearthed another potential star after James Cummings' filly romped to a four-length win at just her second start.
Resuming after winning a debut back in December, Pin Sec slotted into the perfect spot on the rail, trailing fancied Peter and Paul Snowden-trained pair Rome (Pierro) and McLaren (Exceed And Excel).
Rather than risk not obtaining a run between horses, jockey Jason Collett opted to swing Pin Sec deeper on the track and she produced a sizzling finale, charging clear of Rome with McLaren in third.
“That was easy,” Collett said afterwards. “She’s very raw, a lovely little filly."
“She’s still got a bit of growing up to do but she did that pretty easily."
“She flew the barriers and I was more worried about getting her to settle and once we did that she started to track up behind and thought, ok, you’ve got time to get her into the clear and she’ll do the rest.”
“She’s still got a bit of growing up to do but she did that pretty easily." - Jockey Jason Collett
Even before Pin Sec's win, Cummings has a vice-like grip on the Golden Slipper S. with Saturday's G2 Reisling S. winner Tenley (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}) the favourite for the $3.5m race at Rosehill on March 23.
G2 Skyline S. winner Microphone (Exceed and Excel) and Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Exhilarates (Snitzel) are well in the market, as is another Godolphin Lonhro filly in the G1 Blue Diamond winner Lyre, who is prepared by Anthony Freedman.
Cummings' foreman Darren Beadman, who rode Lonhro to 10 of his 11 Group 1 wins, said there were plenty of similarities between Pin Sec and her sire.
"She looks a lot like him. She's a lovely strong progressive filly," he said.
"She really surprised me how she jumped straight into the bridle and got into a lovely position." - James Cummings foreman, Darren Beadman
"She really surprised me how she jumped straight into the bridle and got into a lovely position. Mid-race she was a little bit cramped inside the horse having its first start and once she was able to get into open space from about the 500m onwards, she was able to click into gear and she won with authority," he said.
"She's qualified for the Slipper now. She's a lovely filly and the team and Crown (Lodge) have done a great job with her. Even right back at the studs, at Woodlands and Kelvinside, they do such a tremendous job preparing along with Scotty Eales breaking them in. It's a big operation and we are starting to reap the rewards now."
Beadman said Cummings had done a brilliant job identifying which 2-year-olds were best suited to certain races.
Trainer James Cummings
"James has really got his head around his 2-year-olds. They are all so well-placed and are hitting the mark at the right time," he said.
Earlier, the Bjorn Baker trained Samadoubt (Not A Single Doubt) broke through for his first stakes victory when leading all the way in the Listed TAB Canberra Cup.
Bouncing back from a below-par performance in the recent Parramatta Cup, Samadoubt was given a perfect ride on the pace from Tim Clark, who claimed his third Canberra Cup success with two lengths to spare over Taikomochi (Snitzel) and Almost Court (NZ) (Alamosa {NZ}).
