Super Sisstainable

A winter in Queensland proved perfect for Sisstainable, a winner at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate eve, Friday, October 24.

Having her first run back after two runs in Queensland in May including a win, the Tony & Calvin McEvoy-trained three-year-old filly finished best to win the $150,000 MSC Signs Handicap (1000m).

Ridden by Blake Shinn, Sisstainable ($4.20 eq fav) won by a half-length from Wintery ($8) with Invincible Woman ($4.20 eq fav), a similar margin away third.

Shinn had the filly away well and was able to settle third on the fence in the drive to the home turn.

He then eased her out from behind the two leaders, and she lengthened to score an impressive victory.

Trainer Tony McEvoy said he had successfully trained Sisstainable’s dam Sisstar which holds the Moonee Valley 955 metre record.

“She is the same size as her mum,” McEvoy said.

“She is a little pocket rocket. Very tenacious and her form is really very good.

“She is placed in a stakes race and was very unlucky not to win a million-dollar race on the Gold Coast, she just missed the start from an inside gate.

“What she lacks in size she makes up in tenacity.

“Mum was a small little button, and this girl is the same – we’ve given her a chance to grow and she hasn’t.

“It was lovely to have Blake on her tonight. He had a sit on her at the Valley during the week and he said she was a rocket.

“He gave her a peach of a ride.

“She is not easy, she is a little short thing, he just lent on her neck, and she loved him.”

Winning jockey Blake Shinn said Sisstainable was a filly on the improve.

“We thought she would run well, got the draw, had the luck and she was too good,” Shinn said.

“She gave me a nice feel when I rode her in trackwork earlier in the week.

“She is not big but shows a great willingness and desire to run.

“She is all heart and courage and her races indicated that.

“There is nice scope for further improvement, she wasn’t there in the coat tonight.

“Having that soft economical run allowed her to save some energy for the finish and she was too good.

“I had to carefully navigate a run around the home turn but being so small and nimble helped me.

“She is young and brave, and those factors helped me.”