Story by Darcy Cosgriff – Racing.com
A superb Declan Bates ride and a recent jumpout have helped promising filly Too Darn Discreet break her maiden at Sandown on Wednesday.
Trained by Dan O’Sullivan, the three-year-old had gotten too far back in all three previous career runs, including first-up at The Valley in her previous start, where she finished seventh over 1200 metres.
A return to the jumpouts saw Too Darn Discreet push forward and win a 1400-metre heat by a huge space at Ballarat and, despite a small late drift on Wednesday, she jumped as a $4.80 favourite.
Despite a slow getaway, jockey Declan Bates scrubbed his mount up to gain an early position and the filly’s class carried her through from there – even if it looked a bit precarious at points.
Too Darn Discreet comfortably had the on-pacers covered when she popped out early in the straight but was green once in front and looked like a sitting duck for the chasers.
However, the daughter of Too Darn Hot packed too many punches late, responding strongly when challenged and just holding on from the tough Vianarra ($10), who ran very well second-up.
“She was entitled to get beaten today, because she did a fair bit of work to get there, went to the front early and wanted to lay in,” O’Sullivan said.
“Those horses ran to her at the 100-metre mark and I thought they had her, but she was still able to box on. There’s a good motor there, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet.
“There’s a few things I’ve wanted to do to get her going better, but one thing I’ve liked is that since the trial, she’s really trained on good.”
O’Sullivan had previously circled the 1600-metre Group 1 Thousand Guineas as a potential aim for this campaign, for which Too Darn Discreet is a $16 futures chance.
However, with Wednesday’s effort coming over 1500m just second-up, the Ballarat-based horseman can easily see his galloper getting over much more ground this time in.
For now, they will likely look to find a suitable Saturday race in town as the next step.
“(We’ll look at) every three-year-old fillies’ race coming up in town,” he joked.
“She was up to 1500m today, I think she could even get up to 2000m this time in, with the way she’s going and the strength and tenacity she showed at the end of that race.
“But we’ll just see, we’ll get her home and assess from there.”
Too Darn Discreet ridden by Declan Bates wins the Sportsbet Photo Finish Refund Plate at Sportsbet Sandown Hillside Racecourse on September 18, 2024 in Springvale, Australia. (Photo by Pat Scala/Racing Photos)
