The combination of a confidence-boosting trip to Queensland and getting to her right distance range has proven to be a winning formula for improving stayer Shameless Miss (NZ) (Shamexpress).
The mare had been competing at provincial and midweek level in Sydney before trainer Chris Waller opted to take her north where she posted an Ipswich victory in April.
She returned home to land a brace of midweek metropolitan wins over staying journeys and continued on that trajectory on Saturday with a determined performance in the Stayer’s Cup (2600m) at Randwick.
“We sent her up there thinking we might get a bit of confidence going to Queensland where they just run along a little bit better to help her relax in the run, and also a slightly inferior grade,” Waller’s stable spokesman Charlie Duckworth said.
“That seemed to work its magic.”
Leading apprentice Tyler Schiller found himself cluttered up between horses rounding the home turn before a narrow gap appeared to the inside and Shameless Miss ($2.70 fav) barged through it, eventually surging clear to score by two lengths over fellow kiwi-bred runner Marakopa (NZ) (Sacred Falls) ($8.50) with Le Baol (Orpen) ($4.80) another three lengths in arrears.
“I was jogging around the turn and I always had a lapful of horse, I just had to find a gap,” Schiller said. “When she found that gap at the 350-300, she was really electric through the line.”
