Tennessee Spirit, once a speed machine, has learned to harness her pace under the guidance of trainer Toby Lake.
A recent winner on the Ballarat synthetic track, Tennessee Spirit is heading to Adelaide this Saturday to contest the Sportsbet Green Tick Handicap (1000m) at Morphettville Parks.
Tennessee Spirit commenced her career with Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr but was transferred to Luke Fernie in Perth without a start.
After achieving three placings in Perth, Tennessee Spirit was put up for sale, and Lake stepped in to acquire the filly for a group of clients.
“She had shown good ability over in Perth and was a leading fancy for a Stakes race over there,” Lake said.
“She showed blistering speed and I thought if we could harness that speed and teach her to finish off, it may work for us.”
Tennessee Spirit finished second on her Victorian debut at Caulfield Heath before encountering a very wet track at Wangaratta, where Lake mentioned the filly struggled to lift her legs in the latter stages.
Blinkers were applied when she won on the Ballarat synthetic on June 26. In her subsequent start, again on the synthetic at Ballarat, she was involved in a speed battle but weakened to fourth.
“We had blinkers on for her maiden and then the start after, but that run, they went too hard and just blew her up,” Lake commented.
“We took the blinkers off, gave her a couple of trials to teach her to settle and she came out to win well last time, sitting back off them.
“I think she’s found a really suitable race on Saturday.
“She’s in well at the weights, gets a claim, has a good draw. There looks good speed and she should get that nice run again and being 1000 metres on the Parks track, it will suit.”
As a daughter of Capitalist and the Lope De Vega mare Pomelo, and being a dual winner, a city win on her record would be beneficial.
“She’s well bred, so to get a city win, it will help her,” Lake stated.
“She’ll head over to Adelaide in good order, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
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