Ararat Lady puts one over the boys
Karisto and St Alwyn also impress on an afternoon at Kranji
Ararat Lady and Karisto provided the excitement at yesterday's afternoon trials at Kranji.
With 10 "events" kicking off in pleasant conditions at 2pm, it was the mare from trainer Cliff Brown's yard who looked pretty when winning the third hit-out of the afternoon.
With all eyes on the higher-rated Karisto (83 points), the mare took the lead at the 600m mark and never gave it back.
Karisto began to motor home at the 300m mark, but while he looked threatening and did gain ground, the "Lady" wasn't going to get beaten.
She held on to that lead and, when the post came up, she had slightly less than half a length to spare.
Full marks, however, to the beaten Karisto. He ran a tremendous trial and would have earned plenty of pats when returning to the yard.
But, it was all about the lady.
Racing off 69 rating points, the four-year-old by Battle Paint has slowly been filling up the coffers and, to date, has banked in $168,000 for the Jass Stable.
The bulk of that money came from her three victories and four second-placed finishes in her short 13-start career.
Last time out in early March, she looked like recording a fourth win. But, when push came to shove, she went down to the very-talented Darc Bounty.
It was her first start in the 2020 season and she was just about to get the ball rolling again when the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to all dreams.
As for Karisto, he's heading in the right direction. Beaten by Yulong Edition on the last day of racing before the shutdown, he earned the thumbs-up.
So too, St Alwyn.
He created a good impression when coming from midfield to run down Bear Witness in the second trial.
A runner-up in two of his last three starts, he was a good thing beaten on Jan 18.
That day, he hit the front close to home but had no answer to Lai Mak Mak's turbo-charged burst.
However, on what we saw yesterday, St Alwyn can be followed the next time he goes to the races.
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