France Soir scores stunning Queensland Derby success
FRANCE Soir has upstaged some of his more fancied rivals to score a determined victory in the Group 2 Queensland Derby (520m) at Albion Park on Thursday night.
The black dog began fairly from box two and was outpaced by My Silver Chisel (box one), Fabulous Bill (box four) and Zabdon Ferrari (box five) in the early stages.
Heading through the pen and Victorian powerhouse My Silver Chisel was leading the way over local hope Zabdon Ferrari, with the latter trying to make a move around the lamplighter down the back, however the Tony Brett-trained dog copped a bump and consequently lost ground.
In the meantime, France Soir had worked his way into a prominent spot on the fence just behind the leader and was able to shoot through along the fence swinging for home. Despite My Silver Chisel trying his best, France Soir had plenty left in the tank and was able to burst through to score by half a length in 30.08.
My Silver Chisel stuck on to hold onto the runner-up spot, with Thirty Talks (box six) flashing home to fill the trifecta back in third.
Trained by Robert Cooke, France Soir has now won five races from 14 career starts, with the $47,250 winner's cheque taking the son of Magic Sprite and Magic Caper's career earnings to $126,138 following his previous win in the 2015 Group 2 Dapto Puppy Classic.
It was only Cooke's second start as the trainer of France Soir, with the 30 kilogram powerhouse formerly trained by leading conditioner Anthony Azzopardi.