Candelara earns ATC Australian Oaks start

Monday 6 April 2015, 6:08pm

A daring Adrian Knox Stakes ride by Hugh Bowman has secured the Bjorn Baker-trained Candelara a start in the Group One ATC Australian Oaks.

Banking on the filly's fitness and her liking for rain-affected ground, Bowman made a mid-race move to take Candelara to the front and quicken the tempo.

His tactics paid dividends with Candelara ($21) maintaining her supremacy to the line to score by 2-1/4 lengths from Rustic Melody ($9) with equal favourite Maastricht ($4.20) another half length away third.

Baker said he was confident Candelara could perform better than her double-figure odds suggested given she had matched strides at trackwork with Mongolian Khan, trained by Baker's father Murray and the winner of the ATC Australian Derby earlier on Monday's Randwick program.

"She's actually worked a little bit with Mongolian Khan and even though she's probably not in his league her work has been right up there with him, so I came in today with a fair bit of confidence," Baker said.

Candelara firmed from $101 to $11 for the Oaks.

Baker confirmed his plan to run her in the Classic but admitted the five-day back-up into the race wasn't ideal.

The victory gave Bowman a stakes double after his Group One Sires' Produce Stakes win on Pride Of Dubai.

– AAP

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