Capulet delivers a win
Consistent filly Capulet showed great heart to break through for her initial win on the Ballarat Synthetic on Monday, July 24.
The victory in the Porter Plant Maiden (1200m) brought up a double for trainers Tony & Calvin McEvoy and jockey Harry Coffey.
Capulet, with three seconds and a third from her past four starts, was heavily backed from $1.90 to start $1.60 favourite and fought on well to land the cash.
After travelling with the leaders, the filly went to the front in the home straight but was quickly challenged by Morning Darling ($3.10) which looked a chance of going to the front.
However, Capulet responded to the hard riding of Coffey to hold the challenge and win by a half-length with Lip Sip Suk ($10), 3-1/4 lengths away third.
Trainer Tony McEvoy said Capulet had deserved her initial win.
“Over the journey I’ve been involved with horses that always seemed to find one better,” McEvoy said.
“When that horse challenged, I thought, oh no, as it looked to have the momentum, but she showed really great courage.
“However, she dug in and wanted to win for us.
“I’m so pleased for everyone including the big ownership group from My Racehorse, they’ve stuck strong, and she has rewarded them.
“She has handled wet ground, but her action tells me the better the ground, the better for her and that showed true today.
“She has been running so well and we’ve had a frustrating first preparation with her, but she has come back good this time and not put a foot wrong so a deserved victory.”
Winning jockey Harry Coffey was impressed by Capulet’s will-to-win for the large ownership group on course to watch the filly.
“Groups like MyRacehorse put a lot of people into racing, then you get a lot of people having a great day at the races,” Coffey said.
“I said to them before the race that hopefully it was the day for a win, and the sun is out here at Ballarat, and they can enjoy a win.
“Once the runner up got to her, I thought it might outfight us, but credit to Capulet, she dug deep and got the job done.
“She benefitted from a nice run on speed and when the other horse came up I moved out a bit to ensure she knew it was coming and she found enough.
“It was a nice win and I hope she gets some confidence from it and can go on and win a couple more.”