Special Guineas win for southern filly

[Chief Stipe]

Emily Margaret (Robbie Hannam, outside) prevails in an exciting finish to the Wellington Guineas.

Christchurch filly Emily Margaret took on the northern stars and won at Trentham today, delivering a special result for her city in the Gr. 2 Norwood Family Wellington Guineas.

Emily Margaret is trained by Kevin and Pam Hughes at Riccarton, not far from the mosques involved in yesterday’s tragic attacks that left 49 dead.

“It’s great to get this win for the South Island – we’ve had a terrible time down there,” Hughes said.

Bought at Karaka for $55,000 as a yearling, Emily Margaret was a Listed winner in the Canterbury Belle Stakes in the spring, and again in the NZB Insurance Stakes at Wingatui earlier this month.

In between times she ventured north for a shot at the Gr. 3 Desert Gold Stakes at Trentham, finishing ninth. But it was a very different result when she returned to Trentham this afternoon and landed a $13.60 upset.

Robbie Hannam was aboard for the first time when Emily Margaret scored a dominant front-running win at Wingatui last start, and he kept the mount today. He found himself in a very different situation this time, sitting at the tail of the big and talented field after 200 metres.

But Hannam didn’t panic and was happy to wait and make one big run at them out wide in the straight.

Hot favourite Dawn Patrol loomed on the outside at the top of the straight, with the unbeaten Vigor Winner finding a gap closer in and surging through. It looked like they were the two, but Emily Margaret sprinted up on their outside and made it three.

In a desperate battle to the line, Emily Margaret reached out and won by a half-head from Vigor Winner. Dawn Patrol was another short neck away in third.

“My gosh,” Hannam said. “The plan was not to go back today – it was the opposite of that. But I got squeezed back in the early stages. Plan A and B went out the window, and Plans D and E came into effect.

“I’d been through her form and I knew she’d won a race from the back once before, so I decided to sit back. I knew the outer part of the track would be better, so I waited and gave her one run at them out wide. She was so tough.”

Raced by Rodger and Emily Finlay, Emily Margaret has now had 12 starts for four wins, five placings and $152,625.

“That was unbelievable,” Hughes said. “When she missed the start, I thought, ‘Shit, oh dear.’ But she stormed home. It was huge.

“It was a good field today, there were probably half a dozen horses in there that I thought could win it. Dawn Patrol is a very good horse and I thought he’d be hard to beat. But I did think we could run a place.”

While Emily Margaret has now proven herself against some of the North Island’s best, any other northern missions will have to wait. The first priority lies closer to home.

“We want to win the South Island Filly of the Year Series,” Hughes said.

Emily Margaret has won the first two legs of the four-race series, the Canterbury Belle Stakes and NZB Insurance Stakes, for an imposing tally of 14 points.

The remaining two races are the 1600-metre NZB Airfreight Stakes on April 6 and the 2000-metre Warstep Stakes a week later, both at Riccarton.

“We’ll run in one more race in that series – the Airfreight Stakes, trying her over 1600,” Hughes said.

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