Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman have won their first Rose Of Kingston Stakes as a training partnership, with their five-year-old mare Life Lessons (+500) holding off a wall of challengers to claim the Group 2 contest at Flemington.
With very little speed expected in the race, Daniel Stackhouse took the daughter of Tavistock to the front and settled outside the leader, Starlight Scope (+4000), and held a good length over the race favourite Princess Grace (-166.67).
Once the field rounded the home turn, Stackhouse went for his mare and took over in the lead, but didn't have a huge margin on the race favourite, who challenged with 200m to go.
However, as Princess Grace died on her run, Waltz On By (+2000) and Wrote To Arataki (+1800) began to charge home on the outside, but none of them could catch the winner, and she pulled away late to win by just under half a length.
Co-trainer Katherine Coleman was clearly jubilant in the post-race interview.
“Thrilled with her, she's come on well after running second behind Amelia's Jewel,” Coleman said.
“She's maintained condition, and we brought her here thinking that she would run really well.
“She needed a good spell. We tried to freshen her up over the summer and bring her back for the autumn, but it just didn't work out.
“She needed a good break, which she had, and she has come back bigger and stronger.”
When asked if the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes would be next, Coleman didn't want to rule her mare out.
“Look, the way she was finishing off the race there, I definitely wouldn't be saying no.”
Daniel Stackhouse remains the only jockey to win on Life Lessons, with this win bringing up his fourth success from six rides.
“My plan was to be in front of her (Princess Grace), because I knew the turn of foot that I've got,” Stackhouse said of his plan during the race.
“Moods (Peter Moody) gave me good confidence that she would run well after she worked really well on Tuesday.
“I thought I was controlling the race from where I was.
“I think she has mentally and physically filled out now and when I rode her the other day, she gave me a good feel and I felt like there was a lot more improvement to come.”
Life Lessons is now +1100 in the Empire Rose Stakes futures market with online bookmakers.