Empire Rose on the horizon for Alsephina
Star Western Australian mare Alsephina (6 m Star Turn – Delta Gee by Street Cry) showed she was a force to be reckoned with this spring when proving too good for her rivals in Friday night’s Stocks Stakes (Gr 2, 1514m) at The Valley.
A winner of two stakes races and a Group 1 runner-up in her home state, the Grant and Alana Williams-trained six-year-old signalled her liking to Victorian racing when finishing third under Blake Shinn in the Let’s Elope Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) on her first start outside Western Australia earlier in the month.
With Shinn in the saddle once again, the mare looked comfortable throughout Friday’s contest, weaving her way through the pack in the straight to beat Lady Jones (Toronado) by 0.75 lengths.
Grinzinger Belle (Shamexpress), who beat the winner in the Let’s Elope, was up on the speed throughout much of the contest, but faded with 200 metres to go, eventually finishing third, another 1.25 lengths further back.
Grant Williams said the Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington on November 2 is the mare’s main spring target.
“It’s just a relief we’ve got one on the board early [in the spring],” co-trainer Grant Williams told Racing.com.
“Hopefully we can stay here for another month or so, headed towards the Empire Rose and we’ll see what happens.
“We thought she’d go really well on a wet track and I thought a run at Flemington was really good as well.
“Obviously she’s been on all sorts of tracks, and being from Perth we’ve raced on pretty firm tracks in the summer. But if you run second in a Railway, you hold yourself a pretty good stead over here.”