VANESSI resumed at Canterbury Park over 1,250 metres a fortnight ago and was narrowly beaten in a photo finish. She returned to the same track on Friday night, dropping back to 1,100 metres and was a convincing winner with Nash Rawiller aboard.

The 3 year old daughter of Too Darn Hot (GB) jumped sharply from barrier 2 and was asked to lead early in the small field. Pressure was applied by the outside horse who went forward and stole the rail approaching the home turn but Nash was never fazed. He peeled VANESSI into clear running in the straight and the filly showed her strong turn of foot to win the race comfortably by just over 3 lengths.

Nash reported that she was always going to win and when asked post race whether 1,100 or 1,200 metres suited her best, he replied that “it makes no difference because she has great acceleration at the end of her races and she makes her own luck anyway.”
The filly now boasts a CV of 1 win and 2 seconds from just 4 career starts and her win on Friday suggests there is plenty of more fun to come on the track with her. VANESSI may well reach Stakes level competition in the Autumn however she clearly has Saturday class races in her sight from here on.

VANESSI was a 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling purchase alongside Randwick Bloodstock Agency from the draft of Lime Country Thoroughbreds for $150,000. The filly was named VANESSI after the lead female character Lilli Vanessi in the musical ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ which includes the song Too Darn Hot.

Congratulations to the winning VANESSI owners Philip Ward, Katherine Ward, Kerrie Tibbey, Vincent Ip, Jane Condon, CGO Racing, David Grasso, Paramount Racing (Manager: Kathryn Wood), Felgate Holdings (Manager: Paul Felgate), Forever Fillies (Manager: Ashley Evans), Martin Ive, Rachel Ive, James Hepburn, Peter Aukstinaitis.