HORSE RACING
SMALL but speedy mare Florescent Star secured Mornington-based trainers Amy and Ash Yargi with their first metropolitan winner for the season.
After having a luckless run first-up at Moonee Valley, Florescent Star bounced straight back into the winner’s stall on Saturday when winning at her first look down the Flemington straight (1100m).
The gutsy mare sat in behind the speed before gradually building momentum and striking the lead in the final 200m. Despite being short in stature, she showed plenty of fight to hold off the fast-finishing Grahame Begg-trained Vespertine with Anthony and Sam Freedman’s Award Winner finishing half-of-a-length away in third.
Co-trainer Ash Yargi said it was great to see the mare bring up another win for the Dream Thoroughbreds all girl’s syndicate.
“They’re pretty excited about it so well done to them,” Yargi said post-race.
“She’s very small and she’s got a lot of quirks about her but she’s a tough, honest mare.”
A credit to the Yargi stable, Florescent Star has finished outside of the top three just twice in her 10 starts since joining their team. She’s now won four races since breaking her maiden convincingly at Stony Creek earlier this year.
Whether she can take the potential next step to Stakes level remains to be seen but Ash Yargi is hopeful as the mare continues to raise the bar each start.
“She’s a mare now that’s definitely improved in leaps and bounds,” he said.
“Her formlines are great and she’s ran in some nice races, it’s hard to say (if she can progress to Stakes level), she needs to keep improving but she’s heading in the right direction.”
