Deserving filly finally gets her own way in thriller
Sunday, 1st November 2009

In Peter Moody's mind justice was served at Flemington yesterday when his Golden Slipper runner-up Headway claimed a deserved group 1 victory in the Coolmore Stud Stakes, but as his filly hit the line locked with King Pulse, he was forced to wait for what seemed an eternity to begin celebrating.

''I thought she had got the bob in on the line but the longer it took [to confirm the numbers] I wasn't so sure,'' Moody said.

The relief on Moody's face when number 12 finally took its place atop the broadcast screens was obvious as the normally reserved trainer punched the air and unleashed a triumphant shout; one of his stable favourites had claimed her biggest win.

''That's very nice, a deserved win. She missed in the Slipper but we certainly made up for it today, she's a gutsy little filly and has never been unplaced at group level in sprints,'' said Moody.

Headway was the highest rated two-year-old filly of her year after a hat-trick of wins going into the Golden Slipper, a race in which she found herself near the tail of the field on a bog track before running home powerfully down the centre of the track to eventually finish second to Phelan Ready.

Yesterday Headway was again tucked in behind the leading pack until well into the final furlong of the race and appeared destined for another unlucky feature-race placing when exciting up-and-comer King Pulse shot to a clear lead.

But once jockey Luke Nolen found his way clear and asked for an effort from his mount, Headway ($14) again powered down the middle of the track, this time claiming victory by the narrowest of margins from King Pulse ($21) and Shellscrape ($11), with less than two lengths between the first six horses across the line.

Moody had originally targeted the Coolmore with his unbeaten filly Black Caviar, but injury had ruled that filly out of the race some weeks ago. The brilliant Avenue was also earmarked for the race but she too was ruled out when Moody elected to save her for an autumn campaign.

Despite the omission of his two star females, Moody still saddled three horses for yesterday's $500,000 race, with colts Wanted and Tickets finishing within two lengths of their winning stablemate, who was originally set for the Thousand Guineas.

''She's a hell of a good filly and was probably a tad unlucky not to win the Golden Slipper. We tried to get her to the Thousand Guineas but she failed to run 1400 metres let alone a mile, so we elected to freshen her up and have a go here,'' Moody said.

''I thought I had three horses in this race with a great chance but I felt the colts were always going to need luck from their draws. You could just see her getting that run down the centre of the track.

''There wasn't a split match between them on the track on Tuesday morning and there wasn't that much between them this afternoon.''

Nolen was elated with the win and admitted Headway was one of his favourites, even though punters let her slide out to very backable each-way odds.

''She's tiny and she's only got a little neck but she stuck it out in time. She was unlucky not to win the Slipper, then raced against the upper echelon of three-year-olds this year so she's as deserving as any horse in that race to get a group 1,'' he said.

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