Foxy Frida had met her main rival Sirileo Miss three times in the past year, with Sirileo Miss successful on all three occasions; Foxy Frida finished second to Sirileo Miss in a three-year-old fillies maiden at Bendigo last November, fifth to the Symon Wilde-trained mare in a Sandown Benchmark 78 in September and second again at their last match-up in the Group 3 Ladies Day Vase (1600m) at Caulfield last month.
This time, though, it was the Andrew Noblet-trained Foxy Frida who was much too strong under a tactically smart Kerrin McEvoy ride, taking the Inglis Bracelet – restricted to fillies and mares purchased from any Inglis sale – by three-quarters of a length over Ruby Tuesday with a length and a half back to Intellective in third.
Sirileo Miss could not sprint with Foxy Frida and finished fourth, almost three lengths from the winner.
It was Foxy Frida’s third win at Flemington from four starts and Noblet said that coming back to the spacious track was key for the daughter of Foxwedge.
“She’s a beauty, she doesn’t know how not to try and she has a very consistent record. She was good again today,” he said.
“She got a bit further back than we wanted to from the gate at Caulfield the other day but back to a track she goes well at and a small field, she got a lovely run into the race and it was a great result.
“As her form suggests she does like this track and it suits her because she does take a while to wind up. She looked like she was going to get there a fair way out today. There’s nothing wrong with a $250,000 race in the bank. It was a lovely race for her and we’ll just (keep) taking small steps along the way.”
McEvoy kept Foxy Frida at the tail of the seven-horse field as they went along at a sedate tempo up in front, but ensured that she was staking her claims upon straightening,.
“He said to me that she’ll stay a mile strong so ride her to the line. He was quietly confident and credit to him,” McEvoy said. “He said she’ll like the ground and if anything the rain would have freshened the track up a bit. She did really enjoy it.
“She’s a little sweetheart to ride. She did everything perfectly for me. She put forward a bold performance today.”
Foxy Frida becomes just the second winner of the Inglis Bracelet, with last year’s inaugural winner Rocha Clock subsequently taking out a Group 3 at Scone in May.
Image: Foxy Frida with Kerrin McEvoy (Credit: Getty Images)
