Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Steno maintained her superb form and notched her fifth win in a row when she was seen in a different role before beating Wonderful To Fly by three lengths in the $27,000 HTA Setting New Standards In Hoisting Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Her four previous victories had come after sparkling frontrunning performances. But on Friday night she was seen in a different role, trailing the pacemaking Wonderful To Fly.
Wonderful To Fly, the $3.20 second fancy, was driven hard by Shane Young from the No. 1 barrier to withstand an early challenge from the $1.30 favourite Steno before cruising through the lead time in 37.2sec. and the opening quarters in 31.9sec. and 29.3sec. Then Wonderful To Fly sped through the third 400m section in a blistering 26.8sec.
Steno, who was held in a pocket by Rumour Has It in the breeze, got into the clear about 600m from home and surged home to hit the front 120m from the post on the way to beating Wonderful To Fly after a final quarter of 27.9sec.
Steno rated 1.55.7 to take her record to 18 wins and ten placings for stakes of $343,804 from 38 starts. Her 17 starts in WA have produced eight wins and two seconds.
“The speed down the back led to Rumour Has It dropping back and brought me right into it,” said trainer-driver Jocelyn Young.
Shane Young’s plans to keep Steno in a pocket were wrecked when Wonderful To Fly began to race fiercely in the final lap. “She started to hit a wheel and overraced which saw her run such a fast time in the back straight,” he explained.
Jocelyn Young said that she planned to give Steno a couple of days off before getting her ready to tackle the $33,950 Golden Girls Mile over 1684m at Pinjarra on March 18. “She will probably miss the Lombardo Classic (a 2536m $50,000 event at Gloucester Park on March 8),” she said.