Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Maddison Brown made the most of a surprise opportunity to drive Wall Street Girl in the Smooth FM Perth On Digital Radio Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night by guiding the five-year-old to an effortless victory.
Brown replaced Jocelyn Young, who was too upset to take the drive after her horse Cowboys N Bandits had suffered a heart attack and died after finishing ninth behind Hale Saint Louie in race two.
Wall Street Girl was the $2.80 second favourite from the No. 8 barrier, with Velocipede the easing $2.65 favourite from the outside barrier in the field of nine.
Walsh (barrier four) and Have Ago Joe (five) dashed forward, out wide, at the start, while Brown did not bustle Wall Street Girl, who worked forward strongly to get to the front after 250m.
Wall Street Girl is trained by Debra Lewis, who bred and owns the five-year-old. After her son Mark had asked Brown to drive the mare, Brown watched replays of the mare’s races on her mobile phone.
“I did that because I knew that Wall Street Girl had a history of doing things wrong when she was a bit younger,” said Brown. “I noticed that Jocelyn never pushed her early on and was happy to let the mare find her feet and go forward.
“Mark said that Wall Street Girl had been doing things alright recently and was confident she could get out of the gate well. So, I aimed to get her out as good as I could, and once she found the top I thought she could win.”
Wall Street Girl withstood a challenge from Have Ago Joe 450m after the start, and he then was forced to race in the breeze before wilting to finish last.
Velocipede raced at the rear and lacked sparkle when taken wide approaching the home turn. He finished a disappointing eighth.
Wall Street Girl, who ended a losing run of ten, has been a handy performer who has earned $93,543 from nine wins and 23 placings from 60 starts. She is by former star pacer Alta Christiano and is out of the South Australian-bred mare Manhattan Dream, who raced 71 times for 17 wins and 15 placings for stakes of $35,241.