Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Outstanding young driver Emily Suvaljko had to quickly revise her tactics before scoring an impressive victory with promising two-year-old filly Fly To Fame in the $20,250 Westral Roller Blinds Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
This completed a treble for the 21-year-old Suvaljko, who had been successful earlier in the night with Rockmyster ($11.50) and El Chema ($1.60).
She was planning to send Fly To Fame, the $2.30 favourite from the No. 3 barrier to the front in the 2130m event. Fly To Fame began swiftly and Suvaljko made a spirited early challenge for the lead. But Aiden De Campo, driving the polemarker Dontwakemeup ($3.30) resisted the challenge.
Suvaljko did not panic. Instead, she steadied Fly To Fame, who dropped back to fifth position, still in the breeze position and four lengths from the pacemaker, after opting not to restrain and look for a position on the pegs.
Fly To Fame gradually moved forward, and when Dontwakemeup began to wilt in the back straight in the final circuit Suvaljko dashed Fly To Fame to the front with 420m to travel. Fly To Fame sped over the final 400m in 28.5sec. and was not extended in winning by 4m from $61 outsider Valentinathebullet, with Flying To Win ($4.40) fighting on into third place after trailing the leader all the way.
“Fly To Fame has good gate speed and I was keen to lead, so I had a good crack for the front,” said Suvaljko. “The connections told me not to get stuck in the breeze, so I thought I’d have a decent crack, and it probably helped me in the end with Dontwakemeup fading late.
“Fly To Fame pulled her way to the front at the 400m, and I didn’t think she would keep going the way she did. But she came home in 28.5sec., and I was quite impressed with that. She had started to hang at her past couple of runs. Changes to some head gear helped her and she has been working well.”
Fly To Fame, bred and owned by Bob Fowler, is trained by Katja Warwick. She has earned $30,940 from two wins and six placings from her 16 starts. The filly is by Follow The Stars and is out of former smart Bettors Delight mare Chevrons Champion, who won twice in New Zealand and 13 times in WA before retiring with a record of 95 starts for 15 wins, 25 placings and $171,957 in stakes. One of her best performances was her second to Dodolicious in the $50,000 Daintys Daughter Classic in February 2016.