Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Inexperienced filly Ambitsiya warmed up for the Retravision Online Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night in fine style with an impressive victory over 1730m on Tuesday night.
It was a spirited performance which left reinsman Gary Hall Jnr confident that the two-year-old possesses the ability to test star filly Water Lou in Friday’s 2130m event in which Ambitsiya will begin from the No. 1 barrier, with Water Lou starting from the outside in the field of six.
Ambitsiya began speedily from barrier five on Tuesday night and she dashed forward, three wide, to race in the breeze, with Luci Kane setting the pace.
Hall angled Ambitsiya to take the trail behind Luci Kane in the back straight in the final circuit before he eased her out approaching the home turn. She sprinted strongly and took the lead 70m from the post and won convincingly from the pacemaker, with a final quarter of 27.9sec.
“She is tough, and I think she can make life tough for Water Lou,” said Hall. “If we can hold out Water Lou at the start, I think we can beat her.”
Shannon Suvaljko, who drives Water Lou for trainer Mike Reed, said: “Water Lou is a quality horse, and she should be improved after her first-up second behind Xceptional Arma (three Fridays ago). Reedy is happy with her after her first-up run, and now it’s onwards and upwards for her.”
Water Lou had a tough first-up run when she worked very hard to get to the lead after about 550m, and Suvaljko said he considered her to be his best winning prospect on Friday night.