All The Way For Jemerica

So often racing does not turn out quite like expected – but sometimes it provides an unexpected thrill, such as the all the way victory recorded by promising filly Jemerica in the Champagne Pommery Masters Handicap at Caulfield on Saturday.

Not that we were not expecting her to run a great race – but from a wide gate we were anticipating that she would, as is her usual pattern, get back and storm home.

In fact we scratched her from Caulfield on Wednesday because, with the rail out 13 metres, we thought that the pattern of the day would not suit her style.

But Jemerica decided to change her way of doing things on Saturday, the chestnut jumping so fast from the outside barrier that she found herself a comfortable leader.

And she travelled well in front, apprentice Damien Thornton – who was riding her for the first time – allowing her to bowl along and find a steady rhythm.

Giving a strong kick at the turn, Jemerica kept going strongly, her winning margin a soft 2½ lengths.

“It was a great ride,” Michael Moroney enthused.

“You usually only see experienced riders do what he did. He could’ve ridden her to instructions and dragged her back but he used his brains and did the right thing.”

Holding Jemerica in high regard, Moroney said that “she has always looked at the track like she is Group class,” he said, noting that he is excited about the black-type opportunities coming up for the well related daughter of Captain Rio.

Damien Thornton was impressed by Jemerica’s performance, noting that “the way she travelled she was never ever going to get beaten.”

“She flew the gates so I just let her roll. At the turn I gave her a little dig and off she went!”

A home-bred for Watson Bloodstock, Jemerica is by Captain Rio who also provided Ballymore with the VRC Oaks winner Brazilian Pulse.

She is the third stakes winner for her unraced dam Nishaani, also dam of the New Zealand Group One winner Il Quello Veloce and the South Australian Listed winner Donna Cattiva.

Thanks to Darryl Sherer for the photo of Jemerica’s first metropolitan victory.