Fifteen Sunflowers blossoms at Randwick
Fifteen Sunflowers’ bad barrier manners have not been enough to get in the way of her talent at Randwick.
The filly reared in the gates three times but managed to jump cleanly and stride away to victory in Saturday’s Highway Handicap.
Jockey Jason Collett got Fifteen Sunflowers to cross from the widest barrier and sit third behind the leading pair.
Fifteen Sunflowers held on to favouritism despite drifting from $2.50 to $3.50 before the race and was too strong for runner-up Lunar Duchess, who was supported from $5.50 to $3.70.
Bulls ‘N’ Bears ($6.50) finished third.
While she broke her habit of missing the start, Collett said it would be hard to teach her to behave well in the gates.
“I was able to give her a good kick in the guts out of the gates and it put her right there on the speed where she needed to be,” Collett said.
Fifteen Sunflowers made it a race-to-race double for Collett, who rode Invicibella to victory in #TheRaces Handicap (1400m) 35 minutes earlier.
Trainer Pat Farrell said Fifteen Sunflowers gave herself a winning chance when she jumped evenly.
“She played up a bit in the barrier but everything went pretty good today,” Farrell said.
It was the filly’s fourth win from 16 starts and her first Highway win at her third attempt.