Ville De Lumiere shines

Three-year-old filly Ville De Lumiere shone brightly for connections on the Sportsbet Ballarat Synthetic on Tuesday, June 24.

Trained by Tony & Calvin McEvoy, Ville De Lumiere finished with a devastating sprint to take out the Global Turf Maiden (1000m).

The filly gave the two leaders a start of about five lengths with just over 200 metres left to run but finished at the speed of light to win by two lengths.

Jockey Cian MacRedmond gave the three-year-old a chance to balance up early after jumping nicely in the field of six but with a good tempo she settled at the tail of the field.

Ville De Lumiere ($2.70) started to progress turning for home but still looked to have the job ahead until she hit overdrive and raced past the leaders to win comfortably from Fantastic Fluke ($9) with The Secret ($2.20 fav) a half-length away third.

Trainer Calvin McEvoy said it had been great to have Ville De Lumiere break her maiden status.

“She presented beautifully today,” McEvoy said.

“The filly really has come up after having a few runs.

“She has been a frustrating filly.

“We’ve always thought Ville De Lumiere had a decent amount of ability.

“It was disappointing she hadn’t been able to break through as I have my mother, my fiancé and the girls from the office all in this horse and they have all been giving me a lot of grief about her.

“It was nice to have her break through and I thought it was a beautiful ride from Cian, he gave her every chance.

“The win hopefully means I will be in the good books for 24 hours with the owners.

“Harry (Coffey) had done a lot of riding on her and he was keen to see her ridden with cover but obviously we gave Cian the opportunity because he rides her a lot at home.

“She relaxed well and was really good late.

“Keeping her to these short trips, riding her nice and quiet is the recipe.”

Winning jockey Cian MacRedmond was impressed by Ville De Lumiere’s victory.

“She jumped well and travelled well,” MacRedmond said.

“I had her two off the fence because I don’t think she loved the kick back that much.

“I was happy to angle out slightly to keep her out of the kick back.

“She travelled into it really good, obviously the leaders went very fast.

“I was always confident I was going to get there. Once we straightened up, got her balanced, she knuckled down and hit the line strong.

“Probably won with a bit in hand and she would definitely get 1200 (metres) on the back of that.

“Hopefully that will give her a bit of a confidence boost.”