Sweet Claudia will start as one of the fancied runners in tonight’s $73,000 Laurels Classic. DEVON Meadows trainer Wayne Vassallo has two chances of taking home the lion’s share of the $73,000 purse in tonight’s (Thursday’s) Group 1 ADVANCE Laurels Classic after both his runner won their semi-finals at Sandown Park last week.
Pure Burst scored the fastest semi-final win, leading all the way to win impressively by 4.75 lengths in 29.99 seconds, while his other starter, Miss Vee Eight, completed the double by winning the last semi-final in 30.28 seconds.
Pure Burst was installed as race favourite after drawing box three in the final while Miss Vee Eight drew the favoured inside box one.
Fastest heat winner Sweet Claudia continued her winning way in her semi-final, scoring by 2.5 lengths over Sanzerro in 30.35 seconds.
Sale trainer Carolyn Jones will be represented in the final by Elgrando Gold, which overcame a sluggish start to power home by 6.5 lengths in 30 seconds.
Recognised Australia-wide as the pinnacle race for age-restricted bitches, the Laurels was first run by the Sandown club in 1964 when won by Tara Princess.
The Laurels is a much sought-after Group 1 event with the winner generally acknowledged as a valuable brood bitch. There have been some outstanding winners over the years, including 1965 champion Cheltenham Lass, Odious, which went on to win an Australian Cup in 1976, Carrington Jade, which won the 1976 Melbourne Cup, and Paua To Burn, which won the 2005 Easter Egg and 2004-05 Group 1 Sapphire Crown.
The other feature group race on tonight’s card is the time honoured Group 2 McKenna Memorial worth $36,000 and run over the 715-metre course.
Moe trainer Lauren Gorman’s stayer Spalding will start from box one and is a $3 favourite in the early markets ahead of Glenda Dart’s Miss Grub (box 7) and Cranbourne mentor Chris Johannsen’s Odnoc Alorac (box 8).
