The Phillip Stokes stable unearthed a spring carnival contender following Femminile’s impressive win in the Listed Oaklands Plate at Morphettville on Saturday.
Having just her second race start Femminile produced a dazzling turn of foot late in testing conditions to race past rivals and take her jockey Kayla Crowther by surprise in the $120,000 feature.
“Tommy (Stokes) said he really liked her and they had a really good opinion of her, but she blew me away how she won today,’’ Crowther said.
“I couldn’t believe it half way down the straight, it absolutely flew.
“(I) Can’t believe she won from where she was, she pulled up not blowing at all, she’s really really classy,’’ she said.
Crowther said there was no pre-race plan about trying to get the horse out wide on the track, it was about seeing the filly finish her race off.
“There was no real plan, Tommy just said get a bit of cover,’’ Crowther added.
“To be honest I wasn’t giving it a very good steer coming to the turn,’’ she said.
Rochelle Milnes continued her late season charge in the South Australian Jockey Premiership with a riding double to move within six wins of Jake Toeroek.
Garret Lynch taking training honours with a double, Milnes in the saddle for Chosen Miss’ fast-finishing victory before Smiling Assassin returned to form later in the day with Maggie Collett riding, Lynch having now prepared 50 wins across SA this season.
