Kris Lees adds to impressive C’ship team
Kris Lees has nominated Danish Twist and Parraay as the best chances of eight horses the trainer has qualified for the Provincial Championship Final.
Lees will have half the field in the $400,000 race after Rustic Melody beat stablemate By Golly Molly in the last of five qualifying heats at Hawkesbury on Thursday.
His team will also include Electric Power, Marple Miss, Zestful and Powerline.
Rustic Melody ($6) returned from a below-par summer campaign to score a three-quarter length win over Dream Lane ($11) and By Golly Molly ($14).
During her three-year-old season, Rustic Melody mixed it with the best fillies going around and her record included a respectable fifth placing behind Winx in last year’s Queensland Oaks.
“She just had to get back to her old form as a three-year-old and she was definitely the best horse in the race,” jockey Tim Clark said.
Lees said Thursday’s heat had nowhere the strength of earlier qualifiers.
“To be fair the heats have got weaker as we’ve gone on so Danish Twist and Parraay are probably the two and Electric Power if we get any moisture in the track,” he said.
Despite having numbers on his side, bookmakers have worked around his runners in posting a favourite with the Kim Waugh-trained stablemates Hetty Heights and His Majesty on the top line of betting at $6.
The Provincial Championship Final will be run over 1400m at Randwick on Saturday week.