Narralee wins the 2016 Group 1 Sapphire Crown
VETERAN trainer Steve Creighton has scored the biggest victory of his training career with Narralee taking out the 2016 Group 1 Sapphire Crown (515m) at Sandown Park on Thursday night.
Stepping beautifully from box two, the black bitch clocked a slick 5.02 to the first mark, leading in the charge to the line on the first occasion as the classy Shared Equity moved up on the outside before running wide through the turn.
Heading into the back and Narralee had kicked away, but the race favourite Folio Bale had managed to recover from a steady beginning off the inside to threaten in second spot, with Shared Equity right on the heels of Folio Bale back in third.
Around the home turn and the leading duo managed to get a break as Shared Equity was run off the track by the erratic Nymeria (box six), with Folio Bale striding up on the outside of Narralee in the run to the line, however the bonny bitch responded incredibly well to the pressure, kicking back to score by 0.21 lengths in 29.47.
It was the fourth straight win for the daughter of Aston Galilee and Prince's Faye which has only been back racing for just over a month after suffering a career threatening injury in July last year, with Thursday's winner's cheque taking her career earnings to over $145,000.
Watch Narralee winning the Group 1 Sapphire Crown.