Killiana might have missed out on a lucrative payout in the $1 million The Showdown, but she made amends with a valuable win at Bendigo on Saturday as part of the VOBIS Gold program.
The talented Lindsay Park-trained filly, by Brazen Beau, produced a gritty performance from a tough run to land the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush, which also included an extra $30,000 in VOBIS bonuses.
Having just her third career start, Killiana had previously won stylishly at Bendigo and trainer J D Hayes was delighted to see the $160,000 Inglis Premier purchase deliver in a key race.
“She’s very, very fast and these VOBIS races that are put on, it’s just so good to have them with such good prizemoney attached, it makes it very easy to target them,” he said.
“A filly like her, we’ll sit back and see what the plans is next, but she’s done a good job this time in.
“I’m really proud of this filly, to be able to pick herself up after her Showdown run, month between runs with a tick-over jumpout, it’s just a credit to all out team and the facilities we have.”
This victory marks the second consecutive VOBIS Gold Rush win for Hayes and his co-trainers Ben and Will, following Bold Bastille’s triumph in the same race last year.
Like Bold Bastille, Killiana possesses sharp gate speed, although jockey Michael Dee chose to settle wide when she couldn’t push forward early.
Those who backed the $2.30 betting site favourite had reason to worry as she came under pressure in the straight, but she dug deep late to win by a long-neck from Salty Pearl ($17), with Wintery ($17) another 1-1/4 lengths behind in third.
“She has a lot of speed and unfortunately she wasn’t able to cross over, so she did it the hard way and sat three-wide, but gave a good kick. It was a good effort,” Dee said.