Booker will go into the 2017 Thousand Guineas as one of the favourites after she scored a surprise win in the Thousand Guineas Prelude this afternoon.

Booker led from start to finish to win the 2017 Thousand Guineas Prelude. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos

Dwayne Dunn took control of the Thousand Guineas Prelude in the early stages and his decision to take Booker to the front proved to be a winning move.

Booker was clearly tired late and Shoals and Catchy both charged at her, but the talented filly had down enough and she held-off her rivals to record a very tough win.

“She has a speed pedigree, but she showed a lot of stamina there,” Dunn said.

“Coming around the bend she was under a fair bit of pressure and she wanted to lay out a little bit in the straight, but it was a good effort against some top quality fillies.

“Today we wanted to take the race by the scruff of the neck and because she is going up to the mile next time we wanted to make sure that she could run it.

“It is a really good box to tick and hopefully she can win the Thousand Guineas.”

Co-trainer Matthew Ellerton was pleased to see Catchy return to winning form and he confirmed that she will press on the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield in a fortnight, but he does have concerns about her running out a strong 1600 metres.

“She did a bit of work early and she was good enough to hold on,” Ellerton said.

“She is a filly that doesn’t get under much pressure at home and she is probably still learning to let down.

“She probably didn’t want much further than that, but she did do a little bit of work early and she does have a bit of improvement to come.”

Anthony Freedman confirmed that runner-up Shoals will press on to the Thousand Guineas in a fortnight, while the Lindsay Park team are keeping their options open and could still run Catchy against the boys in the Group 1 Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas.