Filly shows spark in debut effort
Well-related filly Spark showed she has inherited a good measure of the family talent with a bold debut performance in black-type company at Riccarton.
The daughter of Time Test overcame the outside barrier to finish a gallant fourth in Saturday’s Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) for co-trainer, breeder and owner Guy Lowry.
“We do rate her very highly and she had to do a bit from the wide draw,” said Lowry, who trains with Leah Zydenbos.
“We weren’t worried about the ability, we were just worried about her greenness, given how little she had done.”
Spark had trialled twice last month at Foxton, winning the second of them with an eye-catching frontrunning display.
“She has showed up plenty and we’ll get her home and put her out for three weeks,” Lowry said.
“We’ll work out a plan and maybe look at some of the three-year-old fillies’ races over Christmas.”
Spark is a daughter of the No Excuse Needed mare Flare, who is out of a three-quarter sister to the former two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon.
He spent a short period with Lowry, whose father Pat bred the multiple Group One winner, before relocating to Tony Millard’s stable.
The family also features Lowry’s Listed Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) winner and seven-time stakes placegetter Mohaka.
Spark is a half-sister to Candle, a three-time winner for Lowry before adding two more victories from Richard Didham’s Riccarton stable.
“We still own her and hopefully she can get some black type for us down there,” Lowry said.
Meanwhile, talented mare Bedtime Story will take another step toward her return at Tuesday’s trials at Foxton where she won an 850m open heat last month.
“You’ll see her first-up in the fillies and mares’ race at Hawera (Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Breeders Stakes, 1400m),” Lowry said.
The Per Incanto five-year-old has four wins to her credit and has only finished out of the top four twice in 15 appearances.
Bedtime Story was spelled following her runner-up finish in the Gr.3 Rotorua Stakes (1400m) off the back of a third in the Listed Anzac Mile (1600m).
