Filly’s true heart

By David Nagel
AS far as understatements go, Greg Eurell’s comment that Saturday’s Cox Plate winner Pinker Pinker had “come a long way in a short time” could be one of the best of all time.
Unbelievably, Pinker Pinker only had her first race start on 30 June last year, in a Two Year Old Maiden on the Geelong synthetic track, where she finished fourth behind Royal Bender.
Eurell thought that run was huge, she ran home well from the back of the field and she then backed that up with two city wins at Sandown and Flemington before being spelled through the last three months of last year.
“You just never know do you,” Eurell said.
“Twelve months ago she’s sitting in a paddock coming off a seventh in the Thousand Guineas and now here she is winning a Cox Plate.
“I knew she was good but you just hope they jump up a rung each preparation and she’s certainly done that,” Eurell says with a smile.
Eurell is a thorough gentlemen and the only time he gets a bit prickly is at the suggestion Pinker Pinker might not be ranked as highly as other Cox Plate winners.
“She’s no one-race wonder,” he said.
“She’s won a group race this time in, she won two group races last time in work, she’s got some really strong credits to her name.
“How she was rated an outsider on Saturday has got me, they’re just bad judges to be honest.
“She’s got all the attributes of a good horse, she’s as honest as they come, got a great attitude to racing, she never gives in and combine all that with ability, this is what you get.”
Despite her success in one of Australia’s great races, Pinker Pinker still plays second fiddle to Eurell’s sprinting sensation, Apache Cat, as the stable flagbearer. Apache Cat won eight Group One races in his career and built up a cult following with racing lovers. Eurell was on board.
“We spent a lot of time together, you form a strong bond, he’ll probably always be number one but she’s jumped up pretty quickly to do what she’s done,” he said.
“From a training point of view, to have him win at the sprint distances and then have her win over the 2000m is very pleasing, from my point of view.”
So where to now for racing’s new female star.
“Look, she’s very lightly raced and still has a big future in racing, we’ll bring her back in the autumn but it won’t be easy now, she’ll get the big weights so we’ll have to be careful where we run her,” Eurell said.
“Hopefully she’s going well enough this time next year and we can have another go at the Cox Plate.”
Pinker Pinker certainly has come a long way in a short time.