Ruler stays unbeaten

Ruler By Choice made the step up from maiden to class one with an excellent effort at Pakenham on Thursday, November 28.

On the line, Ruler By Choice had to share the victory of the Sportsbet Same Race Multi Class One Handicap (1200m) when the judge couldn’t split the Tony & Calvin McEvoy-trained filly with More Sundays.

A $4.40 chance, the three-year-old was beautifully ridden by Ethan Brown and gave everything to share the win with More Sundays, the heavily backed $3.40 favourite. Mistress Molly ($10) was 1-1/4 lengths away third.

Brown had Ruler By Choice away well from gate one and settled the filly third on the fence in the run to the home turn.

He brought her one off the rails in the straight and the filly sprinted strongly to deadheat for first.

Winning jockey Ethan Brown was impressed by the Ruler By Choice’s effort.

“I had my head down and was hoping for the best at the finish,” Brown said.

“She travelled really well in behind them to the home turn – it was good we had cover.

“The horse in front of us dropped back and she didn’t have all the favours to win the race.

“To her credit, when she got out, she really knuckled down.

“She is still a bit green but got plenty of raw ability.”

Ruler By Choice began her career with an impressive win at Murray Bridge in South Australia and Tony & Calvin McEvoy had no hesitation in taking her across to their Melbourne stable and she vindicated their judgement.