Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Smart mare Taking the Miki passed her first test in a standing-start event with flying colours when she began swiftly in the 2503m DTYS Web www.dtswa.com.au Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
A $3.60 chance and driven confidently by Chris Voak, Taking The Miki relished her frontrunning role and was not fully extended in winning by two lengths from $10 chance American Bullitt after final 400m sections of 28.9sec. and 28.2sec.
It was a notable victory for the four-year-old Taking the Miki, the youngest runner and only mare in the race.
Jemma Hayman, the trainer and part-owner of Taking the Miki, was delighted with the win and said that she would be considering running her in the $50,000 Easter Cup next Friday night and the $30,000 Race For Roses three weeks later. Both are 2503m feature events from a standing start.
“We will have a look at the Easter Cup and the Race For Roses, which is one of my favourite events and one I’d love to win,” she said.
“Taking The Miki got away good tonight, and I think she will get away even better next time. She is still a bit green and is not sure what she is doing. She will get better with experience.”
Hayman said that Taking The Miki did not have a perfect preparation for the WA Oaks last October when she won by a half-head from Little Darling. Two starts after that she finished third behind Tricky Miki in the WA Derby.
“Now everything is going sweetly , and we’re excited,” she said. “She had a few little soundness issues before the Oaks we had to work through, just little niggles here and there. The main thing that we discovered was that she was kicking the walls of her stable, resulting in her jarring up. Now, she is thriving on being trained out of the paddock.”
Taking the Miki, a $26,000 purchase at the 2020 Perth APG Yearling sale, has earned $234,483 from seven wins and 13 placings from 29 starts.