GUNNEDAH-owned mare Second Dollar tackles some of the country’s best mares in tonight’s Graham Goffin Memorial at Moonee Valley.
She will represent NSW in the first leg of the mares’ Victorian triple crown and will give trainer Brian and son Darren Elder (driver) the chance to see how far the Terry, Elaine and Scott Gardner-owned mare has come in 12 months.
In her three-year-old season the daughter of Stature competed in 29 races, winning 12.
It was her results in Group One events that had the industry taking notice of the Louth Park-trained mare.
Second Dollar stepped out in six Group One events as a three-year-old, winning the Tasmanian Oaks and the NSW Sires Stakes.
She finished second in the Australian Oaks and fourth in the Victorian Oaks and Queensland Oaks to make her one of the most consistent fillies in Australia.
She returned to the races last Friday night at Harold Park, proving too strong for Aldebaran, but it was the way she recovered after the race that impressed Darren Elder so much.
“I was stoked with how she was straight after the race and to look at her the next morning it was clear that she had pulled up a treat.
“The problem that Dad has been having is finding something good enough to work with her.
“Last year she worked with Juslika but we haven’t had that luxury this time around so we have been forced to go to the trials a fair bit to get her fit.
“I have even been dropping her out to last in the trials by some 15 or 20m just to make her work harder and rip some of the weight off her.”
Last Friday’s all-the-way victory in a mile rate of 1.57.7 proved to the Elder team the mare was ready to take on the country’s best and a trip to Melbourne for the three feature mares’ races was confirmed.
“We were planning to go but when she came out and did what she did we knew she was ready to take on the top grade again,” Elder said.
“The barrier draw hasn’t made it easy for her though,” he said.
“We have drawn the inside of the back row and if Broadway Play had drawn one instead of two I would have been extremely happy but barrier draws are one thing that you can’t control.”
Every mare in tonight’s race has won more than 10 races and, with the added intrigue of Molly Darling who has done her recent racing in North America, the event should be something to look forward to, according to Elder.