Luke Fernie kept his dominant two-year-old season going when Good As Hell upstaged hot favourite She’s Hot to win the Tabtouch-Have You Got The Touch Plate (1200m) at Belmont on Wednesday.
Much fanfare surround the debut of the heavily backed She’s Hot, but the Dan Morton-trained filly couldn’t break the resistance of Good As Hell who proved too tough to overcome in the home straight.
Helped along by jockey, Chris Parnham, Good As Hell settled off the speed but once clear inside the final 100m, she burst through to grab the lead and in a driving finish she defeated She’s Hot by a long head.
She’s Hot, who came from sixth position and followed a three deep run, held a half-head margin over stable mate Golden Opera, giving Morton minor consolation with second and third placegetters.
Belying her starting price of $11 and relishing the addition of winkers, Good As Hell showed encouraging attributes to back up quickly after making a slow start out of the gates and finishing fourth behind Snitzalatte on debut last week.
While Fernie’s more than happy Good As Hell broke through and is on the board at her second start, he believes if things had gone her way first up her record should read two from two and undefeated.
“She’s a lovely horse and I found her run last week was very good,” Fernie said.
“It was more like a trial; she didn’t get into the race too much.
“They went slow and sprinted when she was in an unsuitable position.
“Past the line she was pretty close to the winner, worked through the line strongly.
“I think the start was the only thing that got her beat the other day.
“I put a bit of head gear on just to switch her on a little bit.
“It made it the key to her today and Chris rode her a treat.”
Tabtouch reacted to Good As Hell’s victory, cutting her price from $51 to $31 in next month’s premier race for Perth’s juveniles: the Group 2 Karrakatta Plate (1200m).
Yes Queen, ultra impressive in her one race and raging favourite in Saturday’s Supremacy Stakes (1000m), the $3.30 favourite with She’s Hot next at $7.
Good Is Hell added to Fernie’s Karrakatta Plate stocks, joining King’s Court, Love’s Talking, Capitola and Split The Gee as his two-year-winners this season.
Mindful of two runs in a week and a firm Belmont surface, Fernie has yet to determine Good As Hell’s path to the Karrakatta Plate on April 26.
“It was pretty warm today and that track might be quite firm,” Fernie said.
“We’ll see how she pulls up and what Chris thinks of her ability levels.”
Parnham thinks they are pretty good, but she’ll have to step up again when meeting stiffer opposition.
“She’s obviously got a fair bit of ability,” Parnham said.
“It probably took a bit of sprint out of her legs backing up from seven days.
“The opposition going forward isn’t going to get any easier but with the benefit of a couple of weeks between runs she should improve again.”
Julio Santarelli