Milan Miss Magic

Signalling her intent with a gutsy effort for third at Paeroa, Milan Miss (4 m Darci Brahma - Falaniella, by Faltaat) upped the ante in a commanding victory over 2060 metres on Oct. 31 at Wanganui.

She hopped away quickly from barrier nine and never had to use too much petrol when sliding across to lead at the post with a lap to run. Joined in front at the 950 metres, she remained relaxed, and asked to extend rounding the home turn by jockey Craig Grylls she never yielded a handy advantage.

Looking comfortable on the line, with a one and a half-length gap to a line of four for the minors, she clocked 2:11.15 in her first middle-distance attempt and paid $7.00 & $2.40 on the NZ TAB.

“I got a pretty soft time in front,” said Grylls. “A couple of times in the race a horse came around, but then left us alone. I got to dictate the terms and she maintained a strong gallop to the line. I eased up on her the last bit and she won well. The ground had a touch of give in it, so it was good.

“I'm two for two for Te Akau recently,” said Grylls, who won aboard Costa Viva (Encosta De Lago) on debut in August at Ruakaka.

The win put Te Akau trainer Jason Bridgman into second on the Trainers' Premiership with twenty-two wins, and three off the lead.

“We have long held the view that she needed to get over a middle-distance, so we were very pleased to see at her first time of asking at the trip that she could win well,” said Bridgman.

“You could expect improvement given it was her first try over the distance, so there is a bit of optimism of further success. I am pleased for the connections, in that they hung in there until we could give her the opportunity over ground,” said Bridgman.

Bred by Te Akau principal David Ellis and owned by the Te Akau Milan Miss Syndicate, her dam Falaniella was unraced but stems from a solid line of well-bred mares from Italy, Great Britian, and USA. Her grand-dam, Masaniella (Masad), recorded five wins from 1500m to 2200m, including three listed races, Paesanella (Seattle Song) won six times from 1400m to 1800m, and next in line Excitable (Nijinsky) won three races.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz

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