Tycoon Evie grips on to claim Pam O’Neill Stakes
It wasn’t just the fact that Tycoon Evie won her first start since November 6 last year for Rex Lipp and Nick Hahn in the Pam O’Neill Stakes at Doomben.
Indeed, that was special.
But there was no shortage of sentimentality in the victory after the Toowoomba-based stable notched up its second-straight win of the afternoon, Simply Fly winning the previous Chief De Beers Listed race over 1110m.
2022 Pam O’Neill Stakes Replay
“It (winning the Pam O’Neill Stakes over 1600m) is a great feeling. She means a lot to us, this mare,” Hahn told Sky Racing.
“She was the first metro winner for the partnership and she was the first winner for when I started working for Rex.
“So it’s great that she wins today.”
The four-year-old mare clearly appreciated the jump from 1200m to 1600m and, with Lipp’s astute knowledge, he knew she would handle the extra 400m.
“It was a nice win. She came up trumps. Going from 1200 to 1600 was a big jump, but I was never worried about that at all,” he said.
Doing well to fend off Samantha Collett on Zing for Chris Waller and win on the line, Tycoon Evie will now enjoy a break after notching her first win from three starts this preparation.
“She’ll go for a spell. I’m not sure what we’ll do with her, but she definitely won’t be racing for a while here,” Lipp said.