Having shown go much talent when last in work, it was expected that Pearl de Vere would not take long to claim her maiden this time in and she was tough doing just that at Moonee Valley on Friday night.
Having her first run since mid-May, the lightly raced four-year-old did not have the easiest of runs on pace with the leader kicking up along the inside of her and making her work from a tricky wide gate.
But she was so game to the line, putting her nose down when it counted to break through at only her fourth start.
“It was a good effort,” jockey Damien Oliver said, “Noel Callow didn’t want to hand up the lead and made her work a little bit but she got a breather in the middle.”
“She did a lot of work and was really gallant,” Mitch added.
A bargain $23,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale purchase – in fact the first yearling purchased by Mitchell at a sale – Pearl de Vere is by Fastnet Rock’s Newmarket Handicap winner Wanted.
A big girl who “has taken a bit of time,” Pearl de Vere is raced by some “good close mates” of the stable with Mitch “happy to have won for them tonight.”
Already the winner of more than she cost, Pearl de Vere (named after a famous prostitute of the Old West!) is the third foal and third winner produced by the unraced Flying Spur mare Flying Flitter whose dam is the dual Group One winner Flitter.
