Striker Light sizzled in her Laurels semi-final at Sandown Park today, narrowly missing a record in the process.
The $1.20 favourite was flawless from box 2, opening a big gap on her rivals within a few strides as she clocked a stunning 4.92 seconds past the post the first time – just 0.02 seconds outside the great Fernando Bale’s record. She continued to widen the gap down the back straight, and while she did get a little tired in the run home, Striker Light romped home to win by 8.3 lengths.
Her winning time of 29.529 was the fastest of the four semi-finals, just 0.005 seconds to the good of both Fearless Swan and Up Hill Jill who recorded an identical 29.534.
Up Hill Jill caused the upset of the afternoon, defeating group 1 winner pre-series favourite Fanta Bale by 2.4 lengths. Jumping evenly from box 5, Up Hill Jill mustered quickly to break 5 seconds to the first mark. She soon burnt off Shez Sublime and with Fanta Bale getting a check off the back straight, went on to break her Sandown Park maiden at her fifth attempt.
Fearless Swan (pictured above with trainer Don Hay) also showed good speed in leading all of the way in her heat, scoring by 5.2 lengths over Leave Me Out. It was her second consecutive win after a nine week lay-off, and her large ownership group from the Stratford Football Netball Club will be eager to see her make it three in a row in Thursday night’s final.
Isla’s Style won the opening heat in strong fashion in 29.85. Last out of the boxes and posted five wide at the first turn, the Queenslander had improved to fourth coming off the back straight before switching back to the rail and capitilsing on interference between the front runners to record a three length win over Poppy Pete.
The $72,500 group 2 Laurels final will be run on Thursday 15 December.
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