Four starts for two wins, a second and a fourth – it’s fair to say Alison Smith’s Missy Rhythmos likes Towac Park.
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The Orange-trained mare continued her love affair with her home track on Friday afternoon, cruising to a half-length win in the Nagle Transport Benchmark 55 Handicap (1000 metres) after easing off late in the straight.
Coming off third finishes at Narromine then Muswellbrook the six-year-old, $4.20 favourite was first out of the gates and traveled beautifully on the rails before shooting ahead at the top of the straight to remain unbeaten over the kilometre trip at the Orange track.
It was her third win from four starts over 1000 as well, but even with that imposing record Smith still says she’s looking to push her out.
“She has a good record over that journey but I’d like to step her up,” Smith said after the win.
“I actually had a Highway in mind next week, but she’s not eligible now so we’ll have to find something else for her.”
Smith was thrilled with the win considering Missy Rhythmos was third top-weight with 59kg, and in fact suggested it was probably an overdue victory in a way.
The mare’s last win came at Orange in December last year and since then – with a four-week freshen-up and a 28-week spell thrown in – she hadn’t finished further back than sixth in her seven starts, picking up a second at Towac Park along with those back-to-back third placings.
“She’s pretty consistent little Missy, she did the job [on Friday] anyway,” Smith said.
“She had to carry a bit of weight, she’s not an overly big horse, so I’m really happy with that, (you take the wins whenenver you can get them), they’re too hard to get.”
Dynamite Dan ($7.50) and Return Journey ($16) set the early pace as Missy Rhythmos settled into third on the rail, before Wide Eyed ($7) pushed to the head of the field out wide at the 600 mark.
The Neil Osborne-trained Snip The Mo ($7.50) came into the equation out wide with about 400 to go, but by then Anthony Cavallo had kicked Missy Rhythmos to the lead and transformed the race into a battle for the minor placings.
It was some battle too, as Caper ($5.50) and Faith’n’Courage ($26) both pushed up onto Dynamite Dan.
The latter held both off, kicking a length clear as Smith’s mare eased off in front of it.
Both those challengers fell further back too, as Bathurst-trained grey Attilius ($13) – which hadn’t looked a threat after settling way back from barrier 11 – flew home in the straight to edge into third.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
