Having just collected one rich two-year-old prize, trainer Henry Dwyer has his eyes on an even richer Victorian race.
Hollerlujah took out the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) on debut at Bendigo on Saturday as a precursor to The Showdown and it’s $1 million prize purse at Caulfield on April 23.
Ridden by Mitch Aitken, Hollerlujah ($26) scored a last stride win from Over Shady ($19) with New York Hurricane ($31) a further a short-neck away third.
Dwyer said Hollerlujah had been professional in her preparation for Saturday’s debut although the trainer wanted to see how the daughter of Holler would handle the race day pressure with The Showdown three weeks away.
A jump-out at Ballarat 10 days ago did not quite go to plan for Dwyer with the filly pulling up shin sore, requiring Dwyer to send Hollerlujah to his property at St Leonards to continue her preparation.
“It’s a little bit of a surprise,” Dwyer said of Saturday’s win.
“We’ve always liked her as a filly and she’s just done everything right the whole way through, but she’s never been a real standout, just tradesmanlike.
“It was always going to be hard from her wide barrier, so Mitch just rode her conservatively.
“She really hit the line well and we just wanted to see her hit the line and give the impression we could go to a 1200-metre race in three weeks, and we certainly think we can do that now.
“We really didn’t have much of a guide on her because she only had that one soft trial and had never been off the bridle.
“There’s a fair bit of upside, so you have to go to a race like that now.”
Hollerlujah was a $46,000 purchase at the Inglis Melbourne Gold Sale and was bred by Noor Elaine Farm that also bred Asfoora who won her first three starts for Dwyer and was a last start third in the Group 3 Kevin Hayes Stakes at Caulfield in February.