Ladies In Red Photo by Stuart McCormick
CHAMPION mare Ladies In Red has a perfect draw to start her "farewell tour" in winning style in Australia's biggest mares' race at Menangle on Saturday night.
The Emma Stewart-trained mare firmed from $2.50 to $1.65 after drawing gate two in the $200,000 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Mile (formerly Ladyship Mile).
Stewart has flagged retirement to the breeding barn for the six-year-old in coming months.
Saturday night's feature and July's Group 1 Golden Girl at Albion Park are the two remaining chances to add to her haul of seven Group 1 wins in a career spanning 32 starts for 25 wins, six placings and $1,018,800.
"Go back through her biggest wins; she's never had much luck with draws, but I'm sure glad she has this time," driver David Moran said.
"This is such a strong race, one of the strongest she's been in. I was super impressed with the Kiwi Mares (Aardies Express) winning her qualifier a couple of weeks ago, and drawing much better than her is a huge bonus."
"Two is pretty much ideal. We're one-off and right up on the speed. I'd love to be able to keep working forward and find the front, but it might depend on how much speed there is outside me and how hard they want to get out."
Moran, who has won 21 races aboard Ladies In Red, said age certainly hasn't taken any toll on Ladies In Red.
"She's an older mare and has overcome some setbacks, including that year out with the fracture, but she just felt magic winning at Melton a few weeks back," he said.
"Emma (Stewart) and Clayton (Tonkin) told me she'd been working better than ever at home, and that's how she felt in that race. She felt so strong but also as sharp as ever."
"I'm going there confident. If she feels as good as she did last time, they'll have to be incredibly good to beat her."
"I'd love her to go out on a high, and this is the first of her chances. She's got to go down as one of the best mares of all time."
While Ladies In Red odds were slashed after drawing gate two, Aardies Express eased from $2.50 to $3.40 after drawing wide in gate 11 (she'll move into nine).
The early support has been for Ladies In Red's stablemate, Treachery ($14 into $8), who many believe might cross them and lead early from gate three.
It shapes as a huge night for Stewart and Tonkin, who also have unbeaten filly Very Pretty dominating betting in the $200,000 Group 1 NSW Oaks final.
Very Pretty made it seven wins from as many starts when she worked to the front, over-raced at times and still zoomed clear to win her Oaks heat by 17.5m last Saturday night.
"She got a bit keen and went quicker than I would've liked because she kicked the sulky (foot rest) a few times and that fired her up. She did a fantastic job considering and still felt strong on the line," driver Mark Pitt said.
"She's a special filly, this one, very special. Emma and Clayton have said it since day one, and she's showing it at the races now."
·Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
