Polly Grey has been keeping the finest of company at home and it appears to have rubbed off with the mare lumping a big weight to victory in the Listed ATC Cup at Rosehill.
A steep distance rise from 1400 metre to 2000 metres proved no issue for the seven-year-old, with trainer Chris Waller’s strategy of using a barrier trial hitout for her fitness proving a winning move, not to mention stabling her next to one of his biggest stars.
“We just put her next to Verry Elleegant for one night, that was all,” Waller quipped.
“She’s a decent horse and obviously she is superior on these types of tracks and this distance as well.
“She is pretty fit. She had a trial between the 1400 metre race and today.
“The trial is a fill-in type race, a bit less stress but they’re still doing the work, so I think that’s a big help.”
Ridden by James Mcdonald, Polly Grey ($5) cruised through the testing ground to outstay stablemate Mightybeel ($3.80 fav) by 1-1/4 lengths with Grove Ferry ($5.50) another neck away third.
The winner is likely to be aimed at the Summer Cup (2000m) at Randwick on Boxing Day before returning for some of the second-tier middle-distance races during the autumn.
Waller said Sydney’s healthy prizemoney levels not only made ownership attractive, it also encouraged connections to keep horses racing longer, pointing to Polly Grey as a perfect example.
The top trainer has no doubt Polly Grey would have been retired at the end of last autumn if not for the significant stakes on offer.
“I think that would be a good example of prizemoney and how it keeps horses racing longer because she would have gone to the breeding barn for sure,” he said.
Waller was also satisfied with the effort of Mightybeel, who ran on well but was no match for the winner at what was his first test at black-type level.
“I thought he went pretty good. He can actually drop back a grade to a benchmark 88 in three weeks time and that is probably where he will go,” Waller said.