Brilliant Batrana

The addition of blinkers enabled Batrana to show her best form at Ballarat on Thursday, October 26.

A classically bred filly, Batrana was given the run of the race by jockey Harry Coffey before dashing away to win the Olive Interior Styling Benchmark 64 Handicap (1400m).

The win brought up a double for Coffey and trainers Tony & Calvin McEvoy.

Batrana jumped well from her inside draw and was able to settle third on the fence before coming off the inside turning for home and sprinting clear.

On the line, Batrana ($2.20 fav) scored by 4-1/4 lengths from Our August Rose ($26) with Birthday Suit ($7.50) a long neck away third.

Trainer Tony McEvoy said the gear change had been crucial.

“It was really good,” McEvoy said.

“Her form lines have been excellent, but she was just making some mistakes and floating.

“She was just giving away a race or two.

“The gear changed helped, a good barrier and beautiful run.

“She is a nice filly, and she was impressive.”

Mr Evoy said Batrana had been comfortable being at home, but was a nice filly with a touch of class.

“It was a small class race today, but she has bigger heights ahead.

“All going well, I would like to go to the Desirable Stakes at Flemington, 1400 metres for three-year-old fillies, to try and get some black type.

“She is still in the Thousand Guineas, but we will see.”

Winning jockey Harry Coffey liked the win of Batrana.

“She has been racing in stronger races and looked a bit wayward at times,” Coffey said.

“Tony and Cal decided to put linkers on. I didn’t fully agree with it because she can be keen, but we got a bit of cover, and she got it all right today.

“It was a really big step for her going forward to do things right, race closer and more tractably then really running through the line.

“It was a good day out for her and hopefully she can go back up in grade and be competitive.

“She is very hot and puts a lot of effort into everything that she does, sometimes blinkers can fire horses up while other times it makes them concentrate, and it was a great decision by the stable to do that.

“We had as good run from a good barrier. For fillies like her barriers are key, get a nice run and put them to sleep and present them at the right time.

“All you can do is win like that.”