It's a long way from a maiden to a Magic Millions Sprint win but somebody forgot to tell local trainer Maryann Thexton and her lightly-raced filly Warrior Girl.Warrior Girl caused a huge upset on Saturday when she got up in the final few bounds to win the $250,000 David Jones Sprint (1000m) at her third career start.Thexton described Warrior Girl as temperamental and said she had to force the Ombra Della Sera filly into the Gold Coast enclosure before the race."She's really difficult to handle.
It's a long way from a maiden to a Magic Millions Sprint win but somebody forgot to tell local trainer Maryann Thexton and her lightly-raced filly Warrior Girl.
Warrior Girl caused a huge upset on Saturday when she got up in the final few bounds to win the $250,000 David Jones Sprint (1000m) at her third career start.
Thexton described Warrior Girl as temperamental and said she had to force the Ombra Della Sera filly into the Gold Coast enclosure before the race.
"She's really difficult to handle. Once she gets the saddle on she's a dream but we had to back her out of the stall to get her into the yard today," Thexton said.
"I could have been forgiven for sacking her by now but she's made up for all she has put us through now."
Warrior Girl had her supporters in the ring and attracted some support during betting before starting at the juicy odds of $61.
Thexton showed great faith in Kelly Purdy by retaining her for the feature sprint and the experienced hoop proved she was up to the task when she brought Warrior Girl with a well-timed run to nab Fab Fevola ($4.20) to score by a half-length.
Coffs Harbour sprinter Backstabber ($5) ran his usual honest race to dead-heat with Al's Best Mate ($4.60) for third 1-1/4-lengths back while race favourite Albert The Fat ($3.30) failed to beat a runner home and returned to the enclosure with blood streaming from his mouth.
Albert The Fat's trainer Eden Petrie offered no excuses for the poor performance despite the horse suffering an obvious knock to his mouth.
"At this stage there are no excuses," Petrie said.
"Stathi Katsidis said he knocked his mouth in the barriers and was chomping on the bit but he didn't do a thing in the straight and it's back to the drawing boards for him."
Fab Fevola's rider Jim Byrne said he knew he was in trouble when the horse started to shorten stride at the 150m but was full of praise for the performance.
"He was first-up and I could feel him starting to get tired the last bit but he was entitled to," Byrne said.
"He was first-up and is a three-year-old taking on the older horses - he will make a really nice horse."