Girly Girly Links announces her presence in style
GIRLY GIRLY LINKS gave notice of her ability when winning a maiden special weight event at Caymanas Park last Saturday.
It was the bay filly’s second attempt and she put away her rivals going over 1,100 metres with minimum fuss.
However, Girly Girly Links had to survive a lengthty steward’s inquiry and a jockey’s objection lodged by Barrington Bell, who rode fourth past the post Bird Catcher before being declared the winner.
Trained by Ryan Darby and ridden by former four-time champion jockey Omar ‘Hot’ Walker, Girly Girly Links (Sorrentino – Victoria) sat in second position behind the speedy Like A Lady (Wesley Henry) approaching the home bend, but as soon as the field entered the straight, she pulled away for a comfortable victory on what can be described as a ‘common canter’. It was the first win for the now deceased Brazilian stallion, Sorrentino.
The well-bred Vision Of Gold (Fearless Vision – Good Prospect), under Robert Halledeen, who was prominent in the race, came on for second ahead of 99-1 outsider Francia’s Pride, the mount of Kerry-Gayl Robinson. The winning time was a good 1:07:2 minutes behind quarterly splits of 23:1 and 47:1 seconds.
The victory by Girly Girly Links gave Darby his 300 career wins at Caymanas Park.
“It is a great feeling to win 300 races. My first two-year-old win and to have done it with winning 300 races is just super at the moment, as it is always good to move upwards in my profession,” Darby told the Complete Racing Guide.
He also said that he was pleased with his charge’s performance and hopes she will be a factor in one of the Supreme Ventures Limited Two-Year-Old Series.
“We ran her the other day and she used that experience to get herself home today (Saturday) and I am happy for her. She is a nice filly and she is progressing well, and I’m hoping that she continues along that line and maybe I will enter her in one of the SVL races, probably the Toyota Cup (Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes),” he said.
Walker was also pleased with Girly Girly Links’ effort.
“She worked wonderful coming into the race, so I was confident that she would get the job done. I broke her well and held her behind the speed and when I asked her to go turning for home, she just blew away from the field,” Walker said in the winners’ enclosure.
When asked about next year’s Classic season, Walker said: “She is still young and there is more room for improvement. The time of 1:07:2 minutes was very good and that suggests that she has ability and I think that she will develop into a nice filly and be a Classic contender come next year. She didn’t change her lead turning for home, so there is more to get out her.”