Tom Daberning continued his impressive run of Summer form with two-year-old filly Cavalry Girl, who won the VRC Punters Club Sprint (1000m) as a $3.80 favourite under Linda Meech.
Brave on debut when second in the Geelong Diamond to Cherish Me, Cavalry Girl's race experience came to the fore in a field with six debutants, handling some green rivals to kick clear and score by 1-1/2 lengths over Sword Of Legacy ($7.50) with 1-3/4 lengths back to Autumn Mystery ($41) in third.
While the Group 1 Blue Diamond (1200m) is an obvious target for the daughter of Bivouac, Dabernig noted that Cavalry Girl was an Inglis purchase, opening up a rich target in Sydney.
"She's an Inglis graduate, she is eligible for the two-million-dollar Inglis race (Millenium) in early Feb which is on the radar if she pulls up okay, and she is in the Blue Diamond as well so we've got a little bit to think about. Obviously it all depends on her and how she comes through the run," Dabernig said.
Dabernig, who has trained 13 winners from his past 50 runners, said Cavalry Girl's professionalism will hold her in good stead.
"She's always been a very professional filly. She was well found by Joe O'Neill, he's a great judge and his record speaks for itself," Dabernig said.
"The first run I think we ran into a reasonably smart one in the winner of Ciaron Maher's but she did everything pretty right and then today, sort of mid-race there was a little bit of shuffling of positions and it didn't put her off her game."
"She was able to accelerate and win quite softly. I thought Linda rode her very confidently."
Cavalry Girl debuted over 1100m and was overrun late, dropping back to 1000m at Flemington, but Dabernig is confident she can handle the higher pressure of 1200m if she heads to a Blue Diamond.
"She's got very good speed. That's probably yet a little bit unknown but at this stage she's got very good recovery, good lungs and she did that quite comfortably," Dabernig said.
