Victorian filly tightens grip on Oaks favouritism with dominant win.
Not for the first time in the last eight days, Mark Zahra steered a three-year-old to short-priced favouritism for a Melbourne Cup Carnival Classic with an effortless win one of the key lead-ups.
The white-hot hoop enjoyed an armchair ride aboard Getta Good Feeling in Saturday's Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m), with the Danny O'Brien-trained filly now odds-on favourite for Thursday's Group 1 VRC Oaks.
Zahra did not quite shut down Getta Good Feeling to the degree he did Observer in last week's Moonee Valley Vase, which sealed Derby favouritism for that colt, but the pair had the race won a long way out and the star hoop sounded an ominous warning to her Oaks rivals.
"She's a very nice horse to ride," Zahra, who took over from the suspended Billy Egan, said.
"She flew the start, then I was able to sit outside the leader on a moderate tempo, relaxed really well (and) she stargazed pretty much all the way up the straight.
"She did it effortlessly. With a bit of urging she focused a bit and it was just the sort of win you hope for going into an Oaks."
Like Observer, Getta Good Feeling bounced off a third placing in her gender's Group 1 Guineas at Caulfield last month to stamp her class in the main lead-up race.
The $1.60 favourite scored by 1-1/4 lengths from Strictly Business ($12), who was having just her third start, with Voting Rights ($41) the same margin away third.
The daughter of So You Think is now striving to become the 40th filly to complete the Wakeful Stakes-VRC Oaks double, something the O'Brien-trained Miami Bound achieved in 2019.
"We've made no secret of our respect for this filly from her first start in Geelong and we've had this week in mind for her," O'Brien said.
"It doesn't always play out as smoothly as what it has for her this spring but, so far so good.
"She's going to go to the Oaks in great shape. She's a filly that is big and strong by So You Think.
"He won a Mackinnon Stakes on this day about 15 years ago and he's passed away so it is great to see his filly turning up and winning this and hopefully the Oaks on Thursday."
