Olentia bolts clear in Group 2 Emancipation Stakes
Tommy Berry made it a hat-trick of wins at Rosehill on Saturday, as the Chris Waller-trained Olentia (+550) stormed clear of her rivals in the Group 2 Emancipation Stakes (1500m)
It was a massive improvement based on her most recent effort in last Saturday’s Group 3 Birthday Card Stakes (1200m), where the daughter of Zoustar never looked likely when beaten 2.2 lengths by Chain Of Lightning.
The step up to 1500m has seemingly done the trick for the four-year-old mare, who cruised past her rivals on Saturday.
The race was set up by the Joe Pride-trained outsider Street Gossip (+7000) going forward under Jay Ford, joined on the outside by James McDonald aboard Hinged (+500).
Makerena (+200) was held up in the pocket for most of the journey and was unable to get a crack at them when the race went on, leaving Olentia bounding clear down the centre of the course.
Arctic Glamour (+2500) and Ruthless Dame (+340) could only watch on when whacking away into the minor money.
It was all honours to the winner in the end, as Olentia added win number six to the resume on Saturday.
2024 Group 2 Emancipation Stakes Replay – Olentia
Chris Waller was on course to represent the stable and was elated with the bounceback of his progressive mare.
“She’s been a bit of a, I wouldn’t say disappointment, but I know last week she got beaten as favourite. I think it’s just taken us a while to get her worked out,” admitted Waller.
“She should have won first-up, she didn’t. Second-up we kept her to 1200m but I think she was looking for further last start.
“Today she stepped out to 1500-metres. She showed ability this time last year, she won a Group race as a three-year-old filly and then I think she had a little injury which held her back for the spring. She’s back on track.
“Today was an afterthought after she was disappointing last week. We could see from her form that she either needed wet tracks, or further. So we’ve put her up over 1500 metres today. We’ll regroup now and perhaps look at the Queen Of The Turf Stakes.”
Tommy Berry was happy to be back in the saddle and make amends after a luckless first-up performance, bringing a sense of relief in his post-race assessment.
“I guess I had a bit of redemption there from a couple of starts back,” said Berry.
“I owed (syndicator) Denise (Martin) and connections and Chris (Waller) one and I’m glad we were able to do it today. She deserves more success than what she’s been given so far.
She’s on the improve and it just shows you what a trainer Chris is because I always thought she was better fresh. You see her record first-up and everything like that and then he goes, ‘nah, I’ll back her up’. And she backs up and wins like that.”
Olentia now sits on the fourth line of betting at +1000 for the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf (1600m) on Day two of the Championships on April 13.