Darryl Sherer
Lindsay Park will plan Tulip’s feature race campaign in Sydney with confidence after the daughter of Pierro easily accounted for her rivals in Friday night’s Gr.3 Typhoon Tracy Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
Under a strong ride from Kerrin McEvoy, Tulip travelled sweetly in the three-wide line with cover and quickened nicely when asked for an effort inside the final 400m, putting a length on tenacious leader and eventual runner-up True Excelsior.
Tulip is a $400,000 New Zealand Bloodstock graduate from Curraghmore while runner-up True Excelsior was sold for $450,000 from the 2016 Premier draft of Cambridge Stud.
Stable representative Bruno Rouge-Serret confirmed co-trainers David Hayes, Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig would now eye a valuable Group One scalp in Sydney with the three-year-old.
“It was an A1 ride and we got the A1 result,” Rouge-Serret said.
“Her campaign probably wasn’t really off track (after last start's unplaced run) and Kerrin made the point post-race that the run at Caulfield last time was still good.
“She was the class filly in the race tonight so we just wanted her to come here and get the win, if she’d got beat today we probably would’ve been second guessing our options.
“Now she can go to Sydney with some confidence and there are quite a few options for her up there.”
McEvoy, who rode Tulip to victory in last season’s Gr.3 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) before being placed aboard the filly in the Golden Slipper, predicted further improvement into her campaign.
The leading rider will look to extend his good form in the navy colours of Coolmore when he partners unbeaten colt Long Leaf, another Curraghmore graduate sold through New Zealand Bloodstock, for
Lindsay Park in Saturday’s Gr.1 Blue Diamond Stakes.
“She’s always oozed a fair of class so it was nice to see her do that tonight,” McEvoy said.
“The team have left a little bit in her so there’s some nice improvement to come.
“It’s nice to win on these (Lindsay Park) horses and it’s a good little warm up for tomorrow.” -racing.com