Well-Bred 3YO Delivers In Style

Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009

Westbury Stud's superbly-related filly Keep Thinking showed she had inherited a good measure of the family talent with an impressive home-track win at Pukekohe today. The three-year-old was last on the home turn and, when angled into the clear by Mark Du Plessis, displayed an excellent turn of foot to sprint clear by a widening three-quarters of a length.

"I said to Mark if she happened to fly the gate to let her stride up, but there was plenty of pace inside her and she finished off very well," co-trainer Gareth McRae said. "She's always showed plenty of ability and her work leading into the race was excellent."

By Westbury's resident Gr 1 stallion Faltaat, Keep Thinking is out of the Carnegie mare Circus Dance, who is three-quarter sister to the Gr 1 Cox Plate winner So You Think. They are both out of the Gr 2 Sir Tristram Fillies' Classic and Listed Soliloquy Stakes winner Triassic.

A half-sister to the multiple winner Murphy (Captain Rio), Keep Thinking had pleased connections in two trial outings but floored them with an unplaced effort on debut at Te Aroha last month. "Leith (Innes) rode her at the Cambridge trials and was really happy with her, but she went terrible first-up," McRae said. "She didn't hit the ground running as we thought and she just got completely lost in a big field."

However, Keep Thinking showed her true colours at Pukekohe today and McRae is confident the filly can continue her winning ways. "She'll continue to improve and her future looks good," he said. "We'll see how she comes through this race and then plan our next step."

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