Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr’s decission to keep Daisies to 1600 metres this spring paid dividends on Friday night when she claimed the biggest scalp of her career in the G2 Stocks Stakes (1600m).
A lack of mares staying races forced the training duo and managing owner Sheamus Mills to plot a different path this campaign, despite finishing fifth in both the VRC and Australasian Oaks as a three-year-old.
That plan now consists of the Group 1 Empire Rose via the Ladies Day Vase on October 12.
Daisies overcome the pattern of the night to come from last courtesy of a brave Damian Lane ride. which saw him weave a path through the field and hold off Elusive Express and Lady of Honour.
“It didn’t go to plan early we wanted to box seat, but she just sat down in the barriers as they opened and had to go to plan B,” Lane explained.
“It’s not a night to be hooking wide on the corner so I rode for luck and it come at the right time.
“To pick up again and find the line like she did is a sign of a really good mare.”
The ever-consistent mare put the writing on the wall with a luckless first-up effort in the Let’s Elope Stakes and remains unbeaten at The Valley after her G3 Alexandra Stakes win earlier this year.
Daisies is a $15 chance in the Empire Rose after being picked up by the astute Mills for $250,000 at the 2020 Gold Coast Magic Millions.
Daisies turned the tables on race favourite Kissonallforcheeks who finished sixth in the seven horse field with a post‑race veterinary examination failing to reveal any abnormalities.
BY RACING.COM