Spirit Bird has produced a career-best effort to date to post only her second race win in the Group 3 Tibbie Stakes (1350m) in Newcastle this afternoon.
Glyn Schofield piloted Spirit Bird to success in the Group 3 Tibbie Stakes at Newcastle this afternoon. Photo: Taron Clarke
Spirit Bird received steady support in 2016 Tibbie Stakes betting markets in the hours leading up to jump, and did her chances no harm when she jumped well and took a position within the field of thirteen.
Rounding onto the final straight wide and with plenty to do, jockey Glyn Schofield allowed the mare plenty of time to balance before asking for an extra effort but was greeted with a massive turn of foot with 200m; comfortably swallowing up the field to find a head in the clear of Godolphin runner Fitou.
Trainer James Cummings was thrilled with Spirit Bird’s condition leading into the Tibbie Stakes and revealed that the Group 3 Angst Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick will figure as the mare’s next racing target.
“She is by Savabeel and she’s got a bit of class about her,” Cummings said.
“Craig Williams rode her when she ran second in the WA Guineas against the boys, and that’s not easy to do at that age.
“We’ve been able to pick her up and she was in good shape when she got to us.
“We sat down and we planned out a preparation with her and targeted this race first up.
“Now we’ve won having sat wide and out the back, but she gave a great finishing burst. She’s done enough to be very satisfying with the way she’s kicked off in Sydney.
“We’ll probably take her to the Angst next in three weeks.”
Schofield delivered a typically smart performance aboard Spirit Bird to win the Tibbie Stakes but was quick to lay the praise on the class of his mount, and the training performance of Cummings.
“She’s reproduced her last trial form and James has done a great job with her,” Schofield said.
“She showed us that she’s got the ability and she proved it today.
“Fitou had a bit of race fitness on her side and we were just a little bit fresher.
“She found that good turn of speed to accelerate and grab Fitou inside the last 100m, but I was honestly quite confident a long way out.”
Punters who backed Spirit Bird to win the Tibbie Stakes with Ladbrokes.com.au have been paid out on generous $9 odds!
2016 Tibbie Stakes Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | SPIRIT BIRD (NZ) | James Cummings | Glyn Schofield | – | 13 | 55kg | $8 |
| 2 | 2 | FITOU | John O’Shea | James McDonald | 0.4L | 1 | 56kg | $5EF |
| 3 | 1 | SAVOUREUX | Kris Lees | Brenton Avdulla | 0.9L | 11 | 57kg | $5EF |
| 4 | 7 | FRILL SEEKING | Matthew Smith | Tim Clark | 1.6L | 3 | 55kg | $12 |
| 5 | 11 | TALTARNI | Craig Carmody | Matthew McGillivray (a) | 1.7L | 8 | 55kg | $91 |
| 6 | 5 | ROCKET COMMANDER | Matthew Dale | Blake Shinn | 2.5L | 4 | 56kg | $5EF |
| 7 | 12 | TEARS IN HEAVEN | Tracey Bartley | Grant Buckley | 3.5L | 12 | 55kg | $20 |
| 8 | 6 | FASHION SNIPTZ | Kris Lees | Christian Reith | 3.6L | 7 | 55kg | $71 |
| 9 | 9 | LA MUSE | Gerald Ryan | Tommy Berry | 3.7L | 6 | 55kg | $11 |
| 10 | 8 | KELLYVILLE FLYER | Jason Attard | Johan Victoire | 3.8L | 5 | 55kg | $10 |
| 11 | 4 | REPLIQUE (NZ) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Kerrin McEvoy | 4.2L | 9 | 56kg | $16 |
| 12 | 3 | NO PUSHOVER (NZ) | Craig Ritchie | Hugh Bowman | 4.7L | 10 | 56kg | $18 |
| 13 | 13 | LITTLE SHOCKER (NZ) | Kris Lees | Andrew Gibbons | 5.6L | 2 | 54kg | $26 |
