Stoutly bred mare Absolute Joy is ahead of schedule for next month's Port Adelaide Cup after scoring an unexpected win at Sandown.Trained by Lee Freedman, the daughter of Zabeel was third up after finishing fourth to Miss Keepsake in the Queensland Oaks (2400m) last June and the stable considered her unlikely to win Monday's Race-Tech Handicap (2100m) so early in her campaign."I thought she would get too far back and wasn't expecting her to win," said Freedman's racing manager Sam Pritchard-Gord
Stoutly bred mare Absolute Joy is ahead of schedule for next month's Port Adelaide Cup after scoring an unexpected win at Sandown.
Trained by Lee Freedman, the daughter of Zabeel was third up after finishing fourth to Miss Keepsake in the Queensland Oaks (2400m) last June and the stable considered her unlikely to win Monday's Race-Tech Handicap (2100m) so early in her campaign.
"I thought she would get too far back and wasn't expecting her to win," said Freedman's racing manager Sam Pritchard-Gordon.
"I didn't think she would travel so close to the pace but the way the race panned out it was the right thing to do."
Jockey Craig Williams was mindful that Absolute Joy wasn't at her peak and he said he nursed her home.
"Third-up I thought she was a bit vulnerable so tried to cuddle her as much as I could up the hill and she ended up putting her head out on the line," Williams said.
Absolute Joy ($4.60) scored by short head from in-form mare Apennine ($3.70) with La Stroque ($7.00) 2-1/4 lengths away third.
Absolute Joy not only gets her staying blood from Zabeel but also her dam Joie Denise who won the 1995 Queensland Oaks.
But Pritchard-Gordon said Absolute Joy, who has won two of her 14 starts, didn't race in the spring because she wasn't considered good enough and her summer campaign goal was the Listed $80,000 Port Adelaide Cup (2250m) at Morphettville on February 19.
"She's a mare that is well bred and we will go and chase some black type with her now over in Adelaide in a few weeks time," Pritchard-Gordon said.
"She is not up to the top liners so we will just pick and choose the races for her as we go.'
Meanwhile Williams confirmed he would ride promising New Zealand filly in Twilight Savings in the Telegraph Handicap (1200m) at Trentham later this month.
"She is not in the field at the moment but if she gets a run I will be going over to ride her," Williams said.
Trained by Murray and Bjorn Baker, Twilight Savings, a winner of four of her eight starts and Group One placed at her past two runs in New Zealand, is likely to race in Australia this autumn.