Clear race favourite My Poppette has continued her strong run of form through the Spring Carnival at Moonee Valley this afternoon; producing an impressive start-to-finish performance to take out the Group 2 Fillies Classic (1600m).

Jumping from the gates well, jockey Mark Zahra allowed the filly to stride forward and take up the pace in the Fillies Classic from the outset; setting a reasonable tempo alongside Bengal Cat and Thames Court.

Settling into a good rhythm and hugging the rails, the daughter of Snippetson was offered a clear racing line upon rounding onto the final straight and immediately responded when asked for an extra effort; producing a huge turn of foot to open the gap from her rivals and hit the line several lengths in the clear.

Zahra has partnered My Poppette in each of her four starts through the 2015 Spring Carnival and was quick to lay all of the praise on the talented filly and the decision by trainer Robert Smerdon and connections to target the Fillies Classic.

“I must say I have to give credit to Robert and the owners – they thought she wasn’t good enough to go to the Thousand Guineas so they targeted this race, which can be an afterthought,” Zahra said.

“I knew she was absolutely spot on, there wasn’t a lot of speed and I was able to dictate and she won really well.

“She was that relaxed in front, and past the half mile and 600m I just increased and increased and the way she quickened I thought there can’t be much coming at me now.”

Smerdon was thrilled with My Poppette’s performance for success in the 2015 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic and revealed the three-year-old will likely return to the paddock with a view towards the 2016 Autumn Carnival.

“She’s got a lot ahead of her I think – she’s a sound filly with good ability. After a break I think she’ll be an even better filly,” Smerdon said after the Fillies Classic.

“He’s riding in rare form Mark. He rode this horse when Cindy (Alderson) trained her and he was very keen to stay on her.

“You could see what she’s like at the barriers; she’s a really quirky horse and he had all that in hand and she goes kindly for him.

“She may go to the paddock from here, but we’ll just wait and see. In herself she’s thriving, she could go to the races again but we’ll just think about it after today.”

In taking out the 2015 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic, My Poppette has now posted an impressive three wins and two minors through only seven competitive starts.

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2015 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	1	MY POPPETTE	Robert Smerdon	Mark Zahra	–	1	57kg	$2.70F
2	5	BENGAL CAT	John Sadler	James McDonald	2.75L	6	57kg	$10
3	8	THAMES COURT	David Brideoake	Hugh Bowman	3.75L	5	57kg	$8.50
4	9	SILENT SEDITION	Andrew Noblet	Craig Williams	3.95L	3	57kg	$5.50
5	6	SEMPRE LIBERA	Gai Waterhouse	Damien Oliver	6.45L	8	57kg	$5.50
6	4	SEEKING ASYLUM	Gary Portelli	Kerrin McEvoy	6.65L	4	57kg	$12
7	7	DAGNY (NZ)	Sam Pritchard-Gordon	Glen Boss	7.65L	2	57kg	$31
8	2	AIR APPARENT	David Hayes & Tom Dabernig	Michael Walker	8.9L	7	57kg	$17