The decision to hit the road with Benoit was vindicated in style at Woodville on Saturday when the filly with a Group One pedigree opened her account.
The Cambridge visitor let down strongly in the straight to cruise away with the Taraua Club Juvenile for the very much in-form training combination of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
“She wasn’t fully wound up for it and she should continue to show improvement.”
A half-sister by Domesday to the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes winner Ekstreme, she didn’t go through the auction ring but her year-older brother realised $240,000 at last year’s Ready to Run Sale at Karaka and as Mr Boomsday has been a winner in Australia.“She’s quite a small filly, but she has got a long stride and covers the ground well,” Forsman said. “She’s always been quite a natural and we’ll see how she goes race by race and how she stacks up against some of the better ones.”
Also a half-sister to her winning stablemate Zvonareva and the former open class sprinter Pellegrini, Benoit had been a trial winner in September before she was unplaced the following month in her raceday debut from the outside gate at Avondale.Benoit sat at the back of a small field at Woodville and when she saw clear air in the run home she lengthened stride effortlessly for rider Kelly Myers to stroll home by two and three-quarter lengths.
Pre-race dramas resulted in the debutants Ina Canta and Enshrine scratched at the barrier with the former dislodging Jonathan Riddell, who was unhurt in the incident, and the latter copping a blood nose after charging the gates.
