Velia

Last month’s Inglis Digital Sale was full of genuine value, and we didn’t waste the opportunity, coming away with four new purchases. One of those great value purchases is VELIA, a 3-year-old filly by Magna Grecia who has been knocking on the door in Victoria and now heads to country New South Wales to join sharp operator Cody Morgan.

Velia has only had four starts and has already finished runner-up in her last two. She’s shown a booming turn of foot, running the fastest last 600m of her race in three of her four starts. In the other, she was the second fastest by just 0.12 seconds. She’s fast-finishing, still developing, and looks the type to improve sharply with experience. She now heads to a region where the racing is a little softer, but the prize-money remains strong, with Country Boosted Maidens regularly offering $30,000 or more.

Her last two runs are well worth highlighting. At Donald in early May, she settled midfield and launched a long, sustained run to finish less than a length from Eau De Cologne, who has since placed at BM64 level. Velia gapped the rest of the field by more than three lengths and ran the fastest last 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m and 100m of the race. Her closing 400m was the 15th fastest of the entire day over 1620m.

She then stepped up to 1800m at Horsham and again impressed, this time with John Allen taking off early and being forced to cover ground. She travelled wide but still charged into 2nd place, understandably tiring slightly late after doing plenty of work. Again, she ran the fastest last 800m, 600m and 400m of the race.

We believe she is very close to a breakthrough win and will be beautifully placed by our NSW form analyst Mick Gannon as well as trainer Cody Morgan, who boasts a 27.3% strike-rate in Country NSW this season with 36 winners from 132 runners. Our long-term aim is to get her to town for a crack at a $120,000 Highway Handicap, but in the short term we fully expect her to break her maiden quickly in her first campaign up north. She has already performed strongly over 1800m and looks capable of stretching out to 2000m and beyond with more time to furnish.

Half the shares are already spoken for and we don’t expect the rest to last long. Get in touch now with jono@themailbag.com.au to secure your place in what looks a very smart buy.