Alexiou sets sights on stakes races for promising filly Pleasure Queen

Pleasure Queen could be a name to keep an eye on at the end of this year’s horse racing season. The promising filly won by a length in a 1000m race on Wednesday at Randwick. This was her first ever competitive start after impressing in trial runs over the last three months.

Her co-trainer Sterling Alexiou now says that Pleasure Queen could be a contender for multiple stakes races to close out the season.

Filly impresses in debut run

Pleasure Queen’s race on Wednesday may have been her first, but the horse looked like a veteran on the Randwick track.

Ridden by jockey Josh Parr, she raced stylishly and steadily, staying with the heart of the pack before drawing away down the stretch with an impressive sprint to beat out Scrumptious ($4) by a length.

Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott’s Hellabella ($9) finished third, one and a half lengths behind the winner.

From “going nowhere” to debut win

Pleasure Queen was the co-favourite for Wednesday’s race at Randwick. The betting sites gave her $3.30 odds to win.

Despite the horse racing betting odds, her co-trainer was uncertain about his filly’s chances. Alexiou described her as raw, but was ultimately impressed by what he saw on Wednesday.

“She was going nowhere three months ago and she is really starting to impress us,” he said.

“She has just been steadily improving all preparation. She has come a really long way in the last six or seven weeks.

“She is still pretty raw but she’s got a bit of a motor there.

“Mentally she seems to be going the right way and taking everything in her stride, and I think Bert and the family are going to have a bit of fun with her.”

What’s next for Pleasure Queen

As impressive as Pleasure Queen was, it will be a while before we see the daughter of Trapeze Artist racing in Group 1 races. With that being said, she could be set to race in Group 2 events as soon as next month.

Alexiou says he and his partner Gerald Ryan are still putting the plans in place for their promising filly, but they could see her as a contender for next month’s Group 2 Percy Sykes Stakes at Randwick. The $125,000 Clarendon Stakes at Hawkesbury Racecourse in May also an option.

When asked about the Percy Sykes, Alexiou said: “Yeah, I think so. There's no reason not to.

“I think she is going to be a lot better next time around but she is handling everything with aplomb and heading the right way.

“She’s won one now. She is probably going to have to go to something like a Percy Sykes, or whether we back off her and go for something like Hawkesbury, the 1300 metres there.”