Richard & Michael Freedman’s two-year-old filly Queen Of The Ball was able to lead all of the way to claim Sunday’s Group 3 Black Opal Stakes at Canberra, Australia.
The filly by I Am Invincible started the +180 favourite on the back of running fifth in the Silver Slipper on February 19 and winning the Group 3 Widden Stakes at the start prior to that.
With $AUD114,000 already in the bank, the Freedman-trained filly is secured a start in next Saturday’s Golden Slipper at Rosehill, Australia; however the stable is yet to decide if she will back up in six days’ time.
Having drawn the outside barrier in the 12-horse field, jockey Rachel King was able to push her out of the gates to find the front, before giving a strong kick at the top of the straight to boot clear.
Queen Of The Ball takes out the 2022 edition of the Black Opal! 👏@RachelK11 @Freedman_bros @ThoroughbredPk pic.twitter.com/6PwrXH7mqc
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 13, 2022
Ciaron Maher & David Eustace‘s debutant Warby charged home from the back of the field to run second, while Metallicity and Nolan finished off strongly to run third and fourth respectively.
On the strength of her win, Queen Of The Ball firmed back into +1400 for the Golden Slipper, while Warby firmed from +10000 into +1400 for the ATC Sires Produce Stakes on Day 1 of The Championships at Royal Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.