Let’s Elope Stakes: Maddie Raymond won’t be swayed by $1m after Turaath continued winning streak

Maddie Raymond had planned to spell Turaath after the Let’s Elope but has some thinking to do now after the mare earned a crack at a $1m Group 1 bonus.

Turaath powers to victory in the Let's Elope Stakes at Flemington. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

Training her first Group 2 winner should be unbridled cause for celebration and yet Maddie Raymond left Flemington on Saturday with a seven-figure headache after Turaath’s Let’s Elope Stakes victory.

Turaath’s fourth-straight win, which gave star jockey Damian Lane a treble, saw the mare become eligible for a $1m bonus should she return on Derby Day and claim the $1m Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes.

MARE. IN. FORM. 👊@MaddieRaymond93 picks up a Group 2 win with Turaath. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BNZFuHQrIw

— Racing.com (@Racing) September 11, 2021

Sounds great in theory but not in practice necessarily as Warrnambool-based Raymond, a rising star in Victorian training ranks, has considered spelling the mare after seven starts since mid-June.

“We’ve been looking for a reason not to come (to the races today) and give her a break but she’s so tough,” Raymond said.

“We won’t make any decisions now … not to say that we won’t (go to the Empire Rose) but we’ll get her home and have a chat to the owners and go from there.”

A slow start left Turaath in a sticky position, three wide and working close to the speed, but the five-year-old kept finding in the straight to win quite comfortably in the end.

“She’s such a tough mare,” Raymond said.

“She sat out wide with no cover and she was rock hard fit and super competitive.

“We did think she’d settle wide with cover, which didn’t work out either … such a tough, honest horse.”

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Damian Lane brings Turaath back to scale. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

Star Tasmanian mare Mystic Journey finished intently to grab second, in her first appearance since surgery to remove bone chips, while Still A Star, also from the Apple Isle, stuck on doggedly for third.

Lane, who coincidentally rode Raymond’s first Flemington winner Wentwood last December, has a long association with the emerging trainer, going back to when she worked as strapper for Darren Weir.

“Maddie’s making a great name for herself now,” Lane said.

“We’re going to see Maddie Raymond’s name in the winners’ stall for many years to come.”

Originally published as Let’s Elope Stakes: Maddie Raymond won’t be swayed by $1m after Turaath continued winning streak