Puddy Pooh, enjoying the wet underfoot conditions while parading her undoubted talent and class, strode to a superlative win in the first Classic of the 2015 season, the Post To Post-sponsored 1,000 Guineas for fillies only at Caymanas Park yesterday.

It was almost an afternoon stroll for the Adore The Gold – Shahar bay filly, owned, trained and bred by Richard Azan, who was scoring his first ever win in the 1,000 Guineas. Azan therefore continued the trend set last year by Lorenzo Robinson, who was the owner, trainer and breeder of 2014 1,000 Guineas winner Queen Paula. Puddy Pooh won by five lengths over Mom’s Student, who ran an excellent race after leading until the final furlong, while the much talked about Berranca ended in third position.

The final time of 1:39.0 minutes for the one-mile distances given the sloppy nature of the racetrack was an excellent one. The recorded splits were 23.3 x 46.0 x 1:10.4 as Puddy Pooh kept her untarnished record with three wins from three starts.  

“She (Puddy Pooh) performed really well today (yesterday). Now I know I made the wise decision by bypassing the Thornbird Stakes because I needed to prepare her in a timely manner, and everything went well. I am so happy with my first 1,000 Guineas win as every race I have horses in I want to win,” Azan told the Sunday Observer.

For jockey Omar Walker, it was confirmation of his growing maturity in the saddle as, after struggling during the period he was champion jockey to ride a Classic winner; Puddy Pooh became his second following Talented Tony K who won the 2,000 Guineas last year.

Walker said that he was surprised by Puddy Pooh’s performance.

“She (Puddy Pooh) really surprised me today (yesterday), as I was easy on her and she just kept on pulling and pulling and just blew away the competition turning for home. She felt as if she can easily get 10 furlongs without breaking too much sweat,” Walker said.

“The quality of this performance was unexpected. She is a nice filly, one for which we have high hopes,” he added.

Sent off as the 2-1 favourite in a field of 14 runners, Puddy Pooh was handed a copy-book ride from Walker, who held the filly into      second position behind the pacesetter Mom’s Student (Richard Mairs astride) approaching the half-mile.

In what looked like a match race turning for home, Walker then asked Puddy Pooh to go with 150 metres left and she responded well, and kicked into high gear in the final furlong to easily outrun Mom’s Student.

Racing continues tomorrow (Easter Monday) when the colts and gelding go head-to-head in the 41st running of the Jamaica 2,000 Guineas over 1,600 metres.