Year in, year out the Emma Stewart barn produces top class juvenile performers, but is it possible it's gone to a new level?
On a Friday night dedicated to the up-and-coming stars of the track, Stewart took out four of the five Alabar Vicbred Platinum Home Grown Classic heats at Ballarat's Bray Raceway last night.
While all four winners were impressive, perhaps the standout effort of the evening came from Ladies In Red in a heat of the series for two-year-old fillies.
Driven by Kate Gath, the daughter of Mach Three went straight to the front from barrier one and was never headed on her way to a 17.5m victory in a sizzling mile rate of 1.52.9.
The result backed up a big debut win at Shepparton on September 1 and, unsurprisingly, Gath was full of praise for the young star.
"I almost fell out of the cart when I came back to scale," Gath said. "She felt good, but I didn't know I ran those times. She just did it not (even) flat out, which is kind of scary.
"I knew we were really hiking the last quarter and she certainly upped the tempo half-way around the corner and just dashed up the straight. She was sort of doing it pretty well within herself and she didn't feel like she was flat out on the line, so it was pretty impressive."
Chris Alford drove a treble on Friday night and his second success came behind Stewart's Rogue Wave, who also made it two wins from two career starts by taking out another heat for the fillies.
A lightning mid-race move took the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere to the front and despite some nervous moments in the straight, she was able to fend off the challenge from Tough Tilly in a mile rate of 1.53.9.
"She was really good again tonight having her second start," Alford said.
"The other one put pressure on around the bend and she really dug deep in the straight."
Stewart claimed the third and final heat for the fillies with first-starter Beach Music and also one of the two colts and geldings preludes with Act Now, who scored in bold front-running fashion for Jodi Quinlan.
It was the training team of Gary and Debbie Quinlan that produced a boilover in the other event for the boys, with Knights Templar bouncing back from his mistake at the previous start to topple Clayton Tonkin's hot favourite Major Moth, who galloped away at the start.
Group 2 $50,000 Home Grown Classic finals will be held at Tabcorp Park Melton on October 10, sharing the bill with the Pryde's EasiFeed Victoria Cup.
HRV – Tim O'Connor