Night Of Thunder’s Love Sensation out to cause Group 1 upset in Surround
Love Sensation (Night Of Thunder) will not be called up for a fashion shoot any time soon, but Kevin Corstens has not given up on his diminutive three-year-old filly being in the subject of the winner’s photo in tomorrow’s Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in Sydney.
The Victorian filly, owned by Byron Bay-based breeder Peter Raftopoulos, is $41 for the three-year-old Group 1 race after as much as $101 was available after acceptances on Wednesday, and trainer Corstens believes his charge can cause a boilover at Randwick.
Love Sensation also started long odds in the Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) on February 13, her first start in Sydney, but she closed strongly to finish fifth under Rachel King, one and three-quarter lengths behind the winner, Every Rose (Choisir).
“If we had gone left instead of right, we probably would have finished third, but apart from that, I thought it was a super run,” Corstens told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“I am not discrediting Rachel’s ride or anything, I think if she was in the better part of the track, she might have finished a little bit closer.”
Love Sensation returned to Corstens’ Cranbourne stables after her last start and arrived back at the Rosehill stables of David Payne on Wednesday night ahead of tomorrow’s race.
“Because I work from the farm, they are out in day yards all day whereas they don’t get the opportunity to do that in Sydney,” he said.
“I work her down at the beach all the time, so she is used to her environment and I always bring her back to her (normal) environment if I have a bit of time between races.”
While there were three-year-old fillies Group races on the calendar in Melbourne for Love Sensation, Corstens said the likelihood of striking wet tracks in Sydney led him to sending the filly north.
If she runs well in the Surround Stakes, she could again return to NSW for the Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) next month.
“Her owner Peter is based in Byron Bay and he loves going to Sydney to the races and the majority of the time … in Sydney the tracks are wet, and she does like the sting out of the ground,” he said.
“It is a bit of a bonus as Peter loves going to the races in Sydney and fortunately we’ve had the Covid restrictions lifted (to a degree) and we can get her up there to race.”
A Geelong maiden winner last September, Love Sensation was deemed talented enough to run in the Thousand Guineas Prelude (Gr 2, 1400m), beaten less than a length and a half when finishing fifth and, ultimately, the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) last spring, a race in which she failed to shine.
“In the Thousand Guineas Prelude she ran a super race over the 1400 metres and she was stiff not to have won it – she was blocked for a run,” Corstens said.
“She had four starts (that preparation) going into the Thousand Guineas and she was just that little bit over the top and that’s why she didn’t finish it off as well as she could.
“We tipped her out, gave her a spell and she’s definitely blossomed into a nicer filly this time around.”
Sam Clipperton will ride Love Sensation from barrier one in a race which has multiple Group 2 winner Dame Giselle (( Am Invincible) as the early favourite at $4.80, ahead of the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained La Mexicana (I Am Invincible) ($7), a last-start Kevin Hayes Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner at Caulfield on February 6.
“The idea will be to give her a little bit of a chance and, with her style of racing, she is usually in the first four or five. Hopefully, she can position up on the rail, fourth, fifth, sixth, that would be perfect for her,” Corstens said.
“She is a pretty straight-forward filly. She enjoys the beach environment and she’s one of those really quiet, unassuming fillies and you wouldn’t pick her out of a crowd. She’s bay and she’s plain but she has got a big heart.”