Summer Flame burns brightest in 3YO fillies’ feature at Scone

Outsider Summer Flame produced one of the day’s biggest surprises at Scone, claiming the Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes at odds of $61 and delivering valuable black-type for her owners, Rosemont Stud.

The Written Tycoon filly had only raced three times in Victoria prior to Saturday’s stakes test, notching a city win and two placings. But she stepped up to Listed grade with maturity beyond her experience, charging home to narrowly defeat a tightly packed field.

The win saw her hold out $4.60 betting companies co-favourites Gerringong and Thames, with less than a length covering the top six across the line.

Charlie Duckworth, representing trainer Chris Waller, said the team made a deliberate change in tactics to settle the filly in the run.

“She is a filly who is a bit highly strung so we asked Jeff to look after her and just basically work with her and try to be as economical as he can with her,” Duckworth said.

“She was a massive price but she came up from Melbourne where she raced for us last preparation with a bit of a wrap on her.”

“She has performed well in all three starts down there. It’s obviously a big step up into Listed grade but she was a slow developing type, which the Written Tycoons can be, and she has taken it in her stride.”

Duckworth also highlighted the effort of jockey Jeff Penza, who made the trek to Scone after a morning working horses at Rosehill.

“Jeff was actually riding trackwork for us this morning so he has put in the hard yards recently and it’s great for him to get a reward like this,” he said.

“Rosemont will be absolutely delighted. Where she goes from here, Chris can work that one out, but very happy, we will take it for today.”

Penza noted how smoothly the filly travelled and believes she’ll only improve from here.

“She travelled really nicely and she started to travel better the further we went into the race,” he said.

“By the time we straightened up I was looking for somewhere to go.

“She is on her way up, I think.”

Punters who spotted the value were well rewarded, and fans can continue tracking Summer Flame’s progress through Australia’s best betting sites.