It was a girls’ day out on their local track at Swan Hill on Tuesday when Madison Lloyd, Jane Duncan and a maiden mare called Short and Stout combined to win the $27,000 Footts Swan Hill Demo Group Plate over 975m.
And it was a win to celebrate – it was Lloyd’s first day as a senior jockey, it was Short and Stout’s first win, and it was Duncan’s first win in four months.
The lightly-raced five-year-old mare has been threatening to win a race since its first run at Stawell on February 21.
It finished second there and in its next four starts, racked up two more seconds and two thirds.
It was a horse that Tuesday’s race caller suggested had “written the book on how to throw them (wins) away”.
Even Duncan concedes the mare has been a handful, and although she blew the opposition away with a sizzling front-running masterclass, she was still inclined to not run straight.
“Her first three starts she didn’t do anything really wrong, and then she started playing games a bit after that,” she says.
“I had her entered at Bendigo for her first start, but we got barrier 12 so I went to Stawell instead, over 1100m, which was probably always going to be a stretch first up at your first race when she goes like she does.
“She’s been really good this time in, and I haven’t had any issues with her.
“I’ve done the jump outs on her purely because it is hard getting any jockeys, so I give her a bit of a handicap, weight-wise,” Duncan smiles.
“But she’s done everything right this time; in her first start she wasn’t fit enough, and the second one was hard to judge because we galloped against the young horses.
“Still I was happy with her and she has improved a lot now fitness-wise, the main thing is she just behaves and keeps doing everything right.”
Lloyd, riding Short and Stout at Swan Hill for the second time, agreed.
“She’s certainly gotten faster, but she’s not all there in the head in that she just thinks too much’ and she is way too intelligent,” Lloyd adds.
“But she either hangs in or out, depending on the day, but I noticed as I was riding her out, she more than responded to the growling (a pre-race habit of Lloyd’s to get the attention of horses she rides).
“And Jane has been doing all the jump outs, so she knows she is definitely fast – and now so does everyone else.”
Speaking post-race, Duncan could not stop smiling and laughing, recalling her mare’s earlier races.
“It’s funny you know, when we went to Stawell that first day we just thought we would see how she goes, and when she nearly won, we were thrilled,” she says.
“Jarrod Lorensini had the first three rides on her and was unlucky not to get a win, but Madison got the job done today.
“Short and Stout looked really fresh, especially in the yard, and this is the first time I have had the blinkers on her. And she went, didn’t she?”
In the next race – the $27,000 Pooles Accountants Handicap over 975m – the Austy Coffey-trained Simply Sparklez saved its best for the business end of the day, storming to a runaway success with apprentice Ryan Houston in the saddle.
It gave local trainers a double at their home meeting and Coffey’s eyes will now be on how his four-year-old mare pulls up ahead of her next start, in a 1400m BM58 at Wycheproof on Saturday.
