3 minute read
Group 1-winning daughter of Exceed And Excel gallops at The Valley
Group 1 winner September Run (Exceed And Excel) warmed up for her tilt in the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on Friday night with a gallop under Craig Williams at Moonee Valley on Monday.
Having landed the Coolmore Stud Stakes (registered as Ascot Vale Stakes) (Gr 1, 1200m) earlier in the season, the daughter of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) will be looking to add a second Group 1 to her record when she lines up in the 1200 metre contest and will also be looking to atone for her last start failure in the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m).
“I was disappointed with the outcome, of course, and a couple of things didn’t work out,” Craig Williams told Racing.com of her Newmarket performance.
“She got a little bit hampered at the start and then the way the race unfolded with those horses coming across I was hoping she might have been able to balance up and get running before they came across and closed up the margin we had on them, but we were unable to do so.
“She wasn’t as effective as she usually has been down the straight and she was still only beaten four-lengths after getting hampered, so it was still a very good run.
“You have to keep remembering she is only a three-year-old filly and at the handicap conditions on her rating she was quite well off.
“But when you compare her weight to the older more seasoned horses at weight for age, she was extremely badly weighted.”
September Run galloped over 800 metres and was contained in the final 400 metres of her work, in what was her second look at The Valley, before Friday night’s Group 1.
“She gets around the tight turns of the track but I guess this is going to be the time to assess her properly as when she was in the form her last three starts she was only racing down the straight,” said Williams.
“I guess when you look at her overall performances she did win a listed race as a two-year-old around the bend up in Queensland at Doomben, which is a tight right-handed turning track so she has got around turns before.
“It is just the pressure and the way this race will run at Weight-for-Age level on Friday night is going to be the telling factor.”