Following her commanding display in the Listed VRC St Leger at Flemington, Silvasista may head to the South Australian Derby.
Next Saturday’s Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m) takes place at Morphettville, alongside the prospect of the Group 3 SA Fillies Classic (2500m) there the subsequent week.
Silvasista relished stretching out from her 2200m win at Donald on April 14, navigating the 2800m test on Saturday effortlessly.
Luke Currie piloted Silvasista ($3.70) to a 3-½ length margin over Finance Merchant ($16), with Chillies ($18) three-quarters-of-a-length further adrift in third.
The result gave Melbourne Cup training partners Tony and Calvin McEvoy a double, after Mr Blunt took the WGCDR Ian Bayles DFC (1800m).
“She’s a lovely filly but we weren’t sure whether she would stay on her pedigree being by Toronado,” Calvin McEvoy said.
“She put up a great run behind Salty Pearl over a mile and then went to Adelaide and disappointed us.
“We brought her back and brought her back in class and she won over 2200 metres at Donald and sort of looked near the end of it, but we wanted to test her here over the distance with a look to the 2500-metre fillies race in a couple of weeks.
“The way she won, it was a beautiful ride from Luke, and it could not have worked out any better.
“I’m thrilled for the team at Ballarat. They’ve sent two horses to the races today and they’ve both won at Flemington.”
Earlier, the filly had trailed Salty Pearl at Caulfield and then failed to fire in a stakes contest in Adelaide last month.
Her Donald win over 2200m left the team questioning her suitability for longer trips.
Success aside, the directive to Currie was clear: keep her settled early.
“The only thing we said to Luke was she was on trial at the distance, so get her to switch off as good as you can and be the last to challenge,” McEvoy said.
“He wasn’t the last to challenge as she was travelling so well and he couldn’t have executed it any better.
“She’s really continued to go through the grades and today was a big test.
“It’s a big race to win at Flemington and we’re very proud to win it.”
Visit leading betting sites to check the betting markets for the race in the South Australian Derby.
