INNER CITY GIRL EARNS SHOT AT GUINEAS

Inner City Girl (red cap) winning on debut (Photo courtesy of Slickpix) Inner City Girl will be aimed towards the Schweppes Thousand Guineas following her impressive debut in Monday’s $20,000 Melbourne Cup Day @ Echuca Book Now Maiden Plate (1000m) at Echuca.  

In a race that included five other fillies holding a Thousand Guineas nomination, the daughter of Magnus proved too strong for her rivals with an eye-catching finishing burst. Trainer Mark Riley said he’d always had a big opinion of the filly, who he felt would be even better as she progressed in distance. “We’ve got bigger plans in store for her than this race today,” Riley said. “I think the form out of the race will be pretty strong and I think she’s a very good filly.”Inner City Girl ($4.40) proved too good by a long-neck over the city-placed Nina Rules ($4.40), with Try Pink ($71) a further length away in third. WATCH: Inner City Girl win on debut at Echuca Jockey Stephen Baster shared Riley’s opinion that the winner could be destined for a bright future.“She began pretty well but couldn’t muster any early speed but to her credit she travelled nicely and bullocked her way through and all I needed was a bit of luck and she hit the line hard,” Baster said. “I don’t think there were too many in this race that didn’t think they could win, quite a few of them looked impressive in their trials so it will probably turn out a strong form race.” 

In the following race, another debutant got its career off to a perfect start when the Danny O’Brien-trained Savatone ($14) swept down the outside to win the $20,000 Become a Echuca Racing Club Member Today Maiden Plate (1100m). Nominated for the BECK Caulfield Guineas, the son of Savabeel won by a length over The Flying Doormat ($21), with the luckless Labuan Star ($2F) finishing a further 1.75 lengths away in third. WATCH: Savatone beat the older horses in his maiden start

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