Kiwi pair have spring in their step after Group 1 success for Tony Pike

TONY Pike’s Group 1-winning duo Provocative and Sacred Elixir have been allotted Timeform ratings that historically set them on a path to spring riches.

Provocative and Leith Innes take out the Queensland Oaks. Picture: Jono Searle

TONY Pike’s Group 1-winning duo Provocative and Sacred Elixir have been allotted Timeform ratings that historically set them on a path to spring riches.

Timeform Australia’s Adam Blencowe said Sacred Elixir would receive a rating of 115 for his J.J. Atkins win, which ­places him slightly ahead of the 114 afforded last year’s winner Press Statement.

“It’s a difficult race to assess because he’s beaten 50-1 and 100-1 pops and the likelihood is that most of them just didn’t run to their previous ratings,” Blencowe said.

“The (slow) closing sectionals tend to support that theory, in that it wasn’t so much him running a blistering final split, but the others being out on their feet.

“Having said that, he’s posted a big winning margin and everything points to him being even better as he gets to longer trips.

“A rating of 115 sits well alongside recent runnings of this race, which has produced subsequent Group 1 winners like Zoustar, Brazen Beau and Press Statement.”

Provocative is likely to go to a figure of 113 for her dominant win on Saturday, stamping her as the fourth-highest rated Queensland Oaks winner since the turn of the century.

That rating is on a par with Eskimo Queen and just short of the 115 given to Ethereal (2001) and Winx last year.

The highest rated modern Oaks winner is Scarlett Lady, who went to 118 in 2011. All of those fillies went on to win Group 1 races as four-year-olds.

Provocative is likely to go to a figure of 113 for her Oaks dominant win on Saturday, just short of the 115 given to Winx the previous year. Picture: Jono Searle

“Winx was 115 with a bullet last year and this filly looks to have genuine upside as well,” Blencowe said. Provocative had been assessed as being ­superior to the 111 given to ATC Oaks winner Sofia Rosa and just short of the 114 Jameka received from her dominant VRC Oaks victory.

Pair of aces: Jockey Zac Purton gets his first Queensland Group 1 as Sacred Elixir (centre) races away from his rivals to win the J.J. Atkins. Picture: AAP

Queenslanders believe their time will come

STUART Kendrick and Liam Birchley are looking to the future with optimism after their respective runners Charnley River and Heart Skipt A Beat placed behind Sacred Elixir.

“He ran into one a bit too good on the day, but it was a huge run from a bad gate,” Kendrick said.

“I really think he is a horse who could possibly go down for the Spring,” Kendrick said of Charnley River.

Birchley said halfway down the straight he thought Heart Skipt A Beat was the winner.

“Probably three weeks between runs may have had a bit of an impact but I’ve got to be pleased with what happened. We will give her a break now and probably come back for the Magic Millions,” he said.

Originally published as Kiwi pair have spring in their step after Group 1 success for Tony Pike