SHE had to run 1,730 metres before she was declared a winner, but it was the opening strides of Glamour Fox which proved crucial at the Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday night.
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The gate speed of the three-year-old filly allowed her to cross the field from barrier six in the Ballinger Transport Pace and take up front spot. That is exactly what Bathurst trainer-driver Ashlee Grives wanted.
Grives felt Glamour Fox's best chance of posting a second career win would come if she was the one setting the tempo.
"She was probably down a fraction in grade tonight, so I thought once she found the front and got a comfortable first half she'd be pretty hard to run down," Grives said.
"She's been quite consistent but probably just run into a better one every week she's been up there. She's a nice little filly.
"There didn't look to, on paper, to be too many challengers or death seat horses as such to put a solid tempo into the race, so I was pretty keen to lead. I thought once I did I would probably be left alone."
After finding the front Grives was able to ease her A Rocknroll Dance x Then We Dance filly through a 60.9 seconds opening half.
On the bell Jason Hewitt moved up on the outside with Bridge Coin and as they ran beyond the 600 metre mark, the two frontrunners eyeballed each other.
But Glamour Fox held the lead into the home straight thanks to a 28.7 seconds third quarter and with 100 metres to go, kicked away from her her rivals.
She won by 5.8m over the Mitch Turnbull driven Ripponlea ($4.20), with Bridge Coin ($6.50) a neck back in third.
'We were running a little bit up the back and I still had a pretty good hold of her and when Jason Hewitt went for his horse, I asked her to go and she found another gear and felt the winner quite a long way out," Grives said as her filly made it two wins from 11 starts.
"She's a quirky filly, she has a lot of tricks, but in the races she does tend to give her all. So that certainly makes up for what she does on the ground."
The success with Glamour Fox was part of a winning double for Grives, who also guided Dulcetto ($1.70 favourite) to victory in the Harness Trading Ring Australia Pace (1,730m).
The six-year-old mare looked little chance of victory when, after being contacted by another runner and breaking stride, was more the 50 metres off the pace down the back straight.
But once Grives got her back in stride she came charging, going on to win by 4.3m over Causing Strife ($13). It was her second career win.
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