Too Darn Discreet not to be ignored in Crown Oaks
Ballarat trainer O’Sullivan taking aim at first G1 win with filly raced by long-time owner
MELBOURNE - Country trainer Dan O’Sullivan said he would not change anything as Too Darn Discreet looks to extend her winning sequence at Flemington.
The A$1 million (S$871,000) Group 1 Crown Oaks (2,500m) on Nov 7 will come as the Too Darn Hot daughter’s fourth win on end if successful.
Getting the ball rolling with a maiden win over 1,500m at Sandown on Sept 18, Too Darn Discreet progressed to a feature win in the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1,600m) at Flemington on Oct 5, followed by the Group 3 Ethereal Stakes (2,000m) at Caulfield on Oct 19.
“I’ll tell you after Thursday if it has been the perfect prep, but I wouldn’t change anything,” said O’Sullivan, who is based in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia.
“I’m glad we didn’t go down on Saturday for the (Group 2) Wakeful Stakes because she’d had the run over 2,000 metres before that.
“She galloped really well on Saturday morning, had a top-up gallop on Tuesday. She’s got a good draw, barrier three, and she should get a good economical run from there – she’s ready to go.”
The 2,500 metres of the three-year-old filly classic – which will be run at 2.10pm Singapore time – is unchartered waters, as it is for her 13 rivals, headlined by the Wakeful quinella of likely favourite Treasurethe Moment for the all-conquering Yulong outfit and Powers Of Opal, as well as Newcastle raider Harlem Queen.
But O’Sullivan is confident his filly will stretch out, adding that a return to Flemington will suit her.
“She was very tough at the end of 2,000 metres in the Ethereal, so I’ve got to be guided by that,” he said.
“I think she will be better suited on the bigger, flatter track at Flemington, and I think she looked better in the Edward Manifold than what she did at Caulfield, so you have to back yourself.
“She’s a very tough filly and we’ve done the work for her to run out the trip, and I think we have done that, so the proof will be on Thursday.”
Should Too Darn Discreet score, she would give O’Sullivan a more than fitting first Group 1 success in his 29-year-long training career.
The first of his host of feature race wins came from a mare called She’s Discreet in the Group 3 Dermody Stakes (1,000m) at the now-defunct Adelaide track Cheltenham on July 31, 1999.
As the “Discreet” part of the name may give away, the Euclase mare was raced in the distinctive all-lime silks by the same owner behind O’Sullivan’s Oaks contender, David Peacock.
The Adelaide-based owner-breeder warmly congratulated O’Sullivan after the Dermody win, only to quickly add: “she is retired”, sending O’Sullivan’s milestone winner straight to the barn for brood-mare duties.
A lot more racehorses and brood mares with the “Discreet” – which Peacock, a divorce lawyer, said was given to remember a former client’s pledge to be so – have since come along, including Maybe Discreet, Too Darn Discreet’s dam, who, incidentally also won the Edward Manifold in 2012.
Too Darn Discreet also holds a nomination in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1,600m) at Caulfield on Nov 16, but O’Sullivan said the filly would be in the paddock by the time that race is run.
“I put her in as a back-up, just in case there was a simple thing like she pulls a shoe off and gets a foot abscess, or something goes wrong, and you haven’t put yourself in there,” he said.
“You’re then in the paddock instead of going to a race that would have been an option, but it was purely as a back-up.
“She’ll be in the paddock after the weekend. We’ll give her a few days to let down and as she’s owned in South Australia we’ll prepare her for Adelaide and the Australasian Oaks.” Sky Racing
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