Little Baia secures third straight win in Aspiration Quality
The Bjorn Baker-trained Little Baia ($9.50) has chalked up her hat-trick of wins for the preparation, making every post a winner in the Group 3 Aspiration Quality (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday afternoon.
Rachel King elected to head straight to the top from barrier three, with the daughter of All Too Hard well-placed with 53kg on her back throughout the contest.
She was able to lead at her own leisure throughout the 1600m journey, with no other runners electing to put any pressure on in the race, with the like of It’s A Knockout ($3.00) and Mare Of Mt Buller ($3.50) happy to park towards the rear of the field in the middle stages.
Hinged () didn’t have much luck when attempting to get clear under James McDonald, and the Worthy Cause mare already had a difficult task with 61kg on her back.
Little Baia still had plenty left in the tank as King pulled the persuaded, while the likes of It’s A Knockout and Mare Of Mt Buller could alone chase in vein, giving the five-year-old too big of a head start as they turned for home.
It was honours to the winner in the end, however, as the consistent mare was rewarded with her third straight victory, and her sixth career win at start 26.
Bjorn Baker was on track to discuss the victory.
“Well, she’s a big, strong mare and she’s really continued to develop,” said Baker.
“She’s one of those horses that even a year, year and a half ago we debated whether we should proceed with her, but I’ve always had a lot of faith in her and she’s got a really good pedigree and she’s a Group 3 winner now, so an amazing result for the team.
“Her work’s just been unbelievable, we had to pinch ourselves. When she galloped on Tuesday, and Luke and I talk and we’re like, ‘we can’t believe it.’ She is just flying and she looks amazing. So, yeah, it’s so much good fun.
“Great to be here.”
Baker then briefly spoke about Perfumust after a strong performance in New Zealand for the inaugural running of The Kiwi (1500m).
“Yeah, and she went super.
“She ran a great race, I was very proud of her performance. She’s done an amazing job this preparation.
“We’ll put her out and then we’re going to try and get into the Golden Eagle. We’ll do everything we can to set her up for that. But I thought today she was really good.”
Rachel King then spoke post-race about the victory of Little Baia.
“She did her thing, she got out there in front, got a nice first half of the race, and 53 kilos on her back which we took full advantage of,” said King.
“Probably put them to the sword a little bit early but I knew she’s a very fit horse and she’s very talented.
“Her confidence is really great but she’s bigger and stronger as well in this preparation.
“I galloped her on Tuesday and noticed a big difference, having been away, how much bigger and stronger she is, and she’s putting that on the race track.”
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