Promising filly The Autumn Belle ($3.70) posted back-to-back wins when she overcame trouble to score at Geelong on Friday. The talented daughter of The Autumn Sun stepped out beyond a mile for the first time, rising to benchmark-58 company following her soft maiden kill a fortnight earlier. Jockey Madison Lloyd jumped on terms and settled worse than midfield in the run, enjoying a soft run on the rails along the back. Race leader Starwisp ($11) was in a hurry to get things over with, setting an impossibly fast tempo out in front and stringing the field out approaching the bend. Lloyd found herself over ten lengths astern of the leader at this point, and began to work her filly into the race, albeit with some tiring runners in her path. She was still three lengths away at the furlong mark when Lloyd went full bore at her galloper, the three-year-old pinning her ears back and bursting through a gap to take the lead with fifty metres left to travel. She was full of running through the line, holding a margin on a fast-finishing Boyfromwye ($9.50) and recording her second career win from just four starts. The young hoop was thrilled – and relieved – post-race. “She’s a press-button (filly). She took the gap, and just let down beautifully through the line.
“Beautiful little horse”.
The Autumn Belle will have a short freshen-up before returning to Ballarat, aiming at South Australian spoils in the autumn. Her rating is such that she can compete at Stakes level in Adelaide, culminating in a tilt at the Group-1 Australasian Oaks on April 27th should her preparation go to plan.