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 White-hot Opera hits high note at first trial 

White-hot Opera hits high note at first trial

04 Jul, 2009 04:00 AM
BROADMEADOW trainer Kris Lees was delighted with his pure white filly, The Opera House, which scored a strong win in a barrier trial at Broadmeadow yesterday morning.

The Zabeel filly, which is a three-quarter sister to champion galloper Might And Power, shared the lead into the straight before kicking clear at the end to win her 800-metre trial on the No.2 grass by 13/4 lengths in 50.7 seconds.

She was bought at the 2008 Magic Millions for $270,000 by John Singleton, who races the filly in partnership with Andrew Johns and eight others who each won a share in a Bluetongue beer promotion this year.

The Opera House is eight weeks into her second preparation and yesterday was her first barrier trial, but Lees is unsure whether the filly will make it to the races this time in.

"She was a bit behind the eight ball in her first preparation, but this time she has just kept improving," Lees said.

"She is still quite green but considering this was her first trial she went real nice. It was a very encouraging effort and I liked what I saw.

"I will probably give her another trial in two weeks, but I won't be rushing her this preparation, and the first sign she has had enough will see her off to the paddock.

"Being by Zabeel, I would expect that she will get over ground later on."

Lees said The Opera House was a pure white filly but that she was not an albino.

"There is only a one-in-so-many-millions chance of getting a pure white filly and she is it," Lees said.

"It has something to do with the chromosomes, and she is just a very rare occurrence."

Lees said Healy Creek would resume over 1200m at Randwick next Saturday after the filly won her heat yesterday in 48.5, which was the fastest of the 13 trials by a half second.

Jockey Dale Spriggs settled Healy Creek in second place before cutting her loose over the final 200m, and she gobbled up early leader Country Tide to beat that gelding by a long neck.

"That was her second trial this time in and she did find the line very well," Lees said.

"She is a good filly."

Lees was also successful with Festus Hagen, which was formerly trained at Randwick by David Payne.

The gelding, which is likely to head to Brisbane, scored by a neck in 49.9.

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Date: Newest first | Oldest first
The white is called a Maximum Sabino i believe and the horse is actually a solid colour underneath but is showing one big white marking like a blaze that just never stopped remarkable really.
Posted by kookiboo, 4/07/2009 1:49:27 PM
That's right. This is what is called a dominate white. Is possibly still a Sabino though but there is only a test for 1 sabino gene and it is believed to be more. There is no such thing as Albino in Horses, I think he meant she isn't a cremello, which is the cream gene. It is going to be nice to see her race but she isn't the first. There has been a few others like, The Bride.
Posted by sylvasprings, 17/06/2010 9:27:54 PM, on The Herald

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 WHITE LIGHTNING: The Opera House after her trial win at Broadmeadow yesterday.- Picture by Darren Pateman
WHITE LIGHTNING: The Opera House after her trial win at Broadmeadow yesterday.- Picture by Darren Pateman

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