Avery Anna demonstrated her considerable potential with a maiden win at Geelong.
The Ladbrokes Popular SRM Maiden Plate (1125) on Wednesday saw three first-starters battle it out in a captivating finish.
The filly, prepared by Leon and Troy Corstens and Will Larkin, was the outsider of the three contenders, drifting from an initial quote of $3.80 to $5.
Conversely, the second-placed Voltrix was installed as the $2.30 favourite, benefiting from early support that saw her odds shorten from $2.15 on-course. A significant move also occurred for Big Lap, who opened at $4 but tightened to $3.10 after attracting bets as high as $17 the previous day.
It was Avery Anna, guided by jockey Craig Williams, who found the extra determination in the closing stages to win by a narrow half-head from Voltrix, with Big Lap a further half-head back in third.
Larkin indicated that the stable anticipated a strong performance from Avery Anna, while acknowledging the filly would gain valuable experience from the run.
“She’s a filly that I think has a lot of ability, but she is still not all there quite yet,” Larkin told racing.com.
“She was over-racing at times in the mid-stages. She’s got a good turn of foot but was floating around late.
“I thought she was going to get headed at the 100 (metres) and run a nice third, but she stuck on and wanted to be there.
“It’s good signs for a horse going forward and we did say to the owners this morning that she was still six months away from being at her best as she’s got quite a bit of maturity still to come.”
Williams echoed Larkin’s post-race comments, noting that Avery Anna possessed a strong engine but lacked race-day polish on her debut, despite the hard-fought, narrow triumph.
“The stable was very confident with her today and she still has all her future in front of her when she develops a bit more and she will learn a lot from this race experience,” Williams said.
“Most importantly, she has a good motor.”
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