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Miss Cover Girl secured her first Group 1 success when taking out the Sky Racing Tattersall’s Club Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
The locally trained galloper, who was having her first start in Group 1 company came off some solid Listed and Group 2 form and at $21 upstaged some better fancied rivals.
With Damian Browne on board, Miss Cover Girl settled around midfield before finding herself just off the leaders coming to the turn.
Taking the lead at the 200m, Miss Cover Girl was able to hold off the fast finishing Azkadellia to win by a length with Sultry Feeling not too far away in third.
Miss Cover Girl ran to a clear new career peak of 114, five pounds above her fourth placing in the QTC Cup (1300m) last start.
The Kelly Schweida-trained runner is the equal lowest rated winner of the race since La Sizeranne in 2006 (107), with three winners of the race since then also running to 114.
Miss Cover Girl returned a Timeform figure five pounds below that of 2015 winner Srikandi (119) with the highest recent winner of the race Melito (122) only one pounds below that of Dane Ripper in 1997.
The Racing and Sports field strength value of 112.5 is below par for a Group 1 race and well below that of the 2015 renewal of 116.5 which contained more genuine Group 1 fillies and mares.
Of the beaten brigade, Azkadellia was once again brave in second and did not quite run up to her best, returning a Timeform figure of 111, five pounds below her Queen Of The Turf victory.
Sultry Feeling who battled on well for third ran to a new peak of 107, her highest since winning the Group 3 Birthday Card Stakes during the autumn.
Miss Cover Girl is the first Queensland-trained horse to win the race since Nova Star in 2007, also trained by Kelly Schweida.
Earlier in the programme Index Linked won his first race in over a year when taking out the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup (2200m).
The Chris Waller-trained runner was able to get the better of his rivals over the final 100m, to run out a narrow winner over Tucanchoo in second with Malice in third.
Index Linked returned a Timeform figure of 107, the same he achieved when fifth in the Group 2 Brisbane Cup the start prior and is around par with recent winners of the race.
The RSFS of 109.2 is below the 2015 renewal of 110.9 where Escado returned a figure of 108 when beating Shoreham and Epingle.
The third and final Group race of the day saw Into The Red score a very narrow win over Saluter in the Group 3 W.J Healy Stakes (1200m) with Mogador well back in third place.The Keslo Wood-trained runner returned a figure of 107, matching his win in listed company over 1050m at Doomben three starts back but well below 2015 winner Dothraki who ran to 114 in a much stronger field.
The RSFS of 108.8 is below par for a Group 3 race and well below the 2015 renewal of 113.2 where Into The Red finished sixth.
Saluter ran to a new career peak of 105, his highest since winning at Doomben late last year with Mogador in third running well below his best of 114, returning a figure of 86.
