Quinton relieved to see Gracious Grey break through for maiden
RANDWICK trainer Rod Quinton says he will be looking for a suitable race before making any decisions on where to take Gracious Grey after she broke through for her first win on Saturday.
The three-year-old filly fought out a tough finish in a 1400m maiden at Newcastle, defeating Godolphin filly Birdsong right on the line.
It was her first career win at start six, with Quinton full of confidence heading into the race after going down narrowly at her most recent start at Warwick Farm on May 31.
“She was very fit for today and I was expecting her to race well,” Quinton told Horse Betting.
“She was very unlucky at her last start – she probably should have won which would have been nice for her as it was a metropolitan meeting, but a win is a win and every one is important when you have got a filly or mare.”
A former leading jockey in the 1970s and 1980s, Quinton has proven to have a good eye for horses since turning to trading and is now recognised as one of the best trainers in Sydney.
With the ability to recognise talent, Quinton says Gracious Grey has always looked promising and that he was relieved to finally see her put it all together on the track at her second start this prep.
“She is a filly which has always shown me really nice promise, although I knew she was going to take a bit of time,” he said.
“She really seems to be maturing and improving within herself now – she is more robust this time in and she is holding together really well.
“Last preparation she tended to lighten off a bit, but she is keeping her condition and she is indicating to me that she is looking for more ground.”
Quinton said Gracious Grey will need to get over more ground as she continues this prep, but concedes he isn’t sure what lies ahead with a lack of suitable racing options available.
“I am very excited to get her over further distance – she looks to me like she will run it out but the problem will be where to place her now.
“She isn’t three-years-old for much longer, but I am not sure where she will go now because there are no real stepping stones for fillies like her which makes things very difficult.
“Unless you have a real class act the programming system doesn’t really help fillies and mares out coming out of a maiden because she essentially has to jump three rungs of the ladder in a hurry – it is hard to graduate through the grades.
“I would love to find a nice metro race for her possibly against three-year-old fillies but they are like hen’s teeth so I will have to sit down and work it out.”
It has been a great week for Quinton who has had success at three different tracks with just five runners engaged since Monday.
With Can Dream and Duchess Pedrille both nominated this week at Canterbury (Wednesday) and Newcastle (Thursday), Quinton says he is keen to enjoy the successful run.
“The horses have been running very consistently which is what we strive for. Lope De Lope won at Randwick for us on Monday and we had a winner and a second at Gosford on Tuesday.
“Then Gracious Grey came out and won today at Newcastle and Magical Stance ran fourth at Rosehill and he was only beaten around three quarters of a length so it has been a great week.
“It’s fantastic – you’ve got to enjoy the wins and the good times like we have been having because racing is a funny game and the good times don’t last forever.”