Cintiarna Upsets The 2013 Temlee
The brilliant Cintiarna – paying the juicy odds of $19 – upstaged her more fancied rivals to win the Group 1 Macro Meats Temlee over 525 metres in brilliant fashion.
The daughter of Bombastic Shiraz and Hello Sienna began perfectly from her wide draw of eight, crossing the star-studded field with ease. After stopping the first sectional timer at 5.07 – and the rest of her rivals jamming up on the first turn – the black chaser set up a race-winning lead as the Jason Thompson pair Boris Fields and Proven Nitro settled behind the tearaway leader.
With Boris Fields making some ground, Cintiarna rounded the back corner after a 17.77 sectional, with her strength showing the way, striding to a two and three quarter length win in 29.76 (11.99 run home) over Boris Fields and race favourite Proven Nitro, who was a further three and a quarter lengths away in third.
The win capped off a whirlwind few months for owner/trainer Sandra Collins, who won the Group 2 Cranbourne Cup with her star back in January.
The win was Cintiarna's 16th from just 31 starts, with her prizemoney more than doubling to $190,470 thanks to the $100,000 winner's cheque. The 31-kilogram star will now line up in next week's heats of the Group 1 Maurice Blackburn Australian Cup, with the final worth $250,000 to the winner on March 2.