Zoustar mare Friday At Five ($2.40) continued her impressive form on Friday, taking out the Hanging Rock Cup in the final strides under jockey Neil Farley. But it was far from an easy watch. The five-year-old galloper was forced to do things the hard way, finding herself in an almost impossible position approaching the home bend, still second-last and six lengths from race-leader Jefferson ($41). Farley managed to navigate his mare to the middle of the home straight with just a furlong left to travel, where she let down with a powerful sprint to chase after the frontrunner. Still with two lengths to make up at the 100-metre mark, the mare pinned her ears back and attacked the line, reeling in Jefferson in the final bounds to secure a remarkable win in front of a vocal group of owners. Farley expressed relief with the result post-race. “Really good in the end”, he said.
“She really let rip, really impressive win. It’s pretty hard to do around here, what she’s done”.
While happy to secure another win with his galloper, Henry lamented the manner in which she got the job done. “Had he (Farley) been outside the lead, or one-out one-back… it would’ve been a very easy watch and she would’ve won by three or four lengths.
“It was a lot harder than it should’ve been. But, end result was good.
“She’s won well”.
Friday At Five has bounced through her run well and will likely back-up at Kyneton this Saturday in the Woodend Cup, a benchmark-70 event over 1850-metres.
The mare now has five career wins, pushing her earnings past $130,000.