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By Brad Gray

Spring was certainly in the air at Warwick Farm on Wednesday with Godolphin’s smart filly Alizee taking the first step towards much loftier goals over the coming months.

Many Sydney-based trainers will tell you that a horse’s maiden is often the hardest race to win and although the daughter of Sepoy looked to boast a class edge over her rivals, Bjorn Baker’s filly Songlike made her earn the win.

Alizee’s victory capped an early double for James Cummings who saw Piracy prevail in a photo finish in the opening race of the day.

“She matched motors exceptionally well with Piracy in a lovely gallop over the weekend and we were very confident that both horses could come here and run well and they have delivered for us. We’re delighted with that,” Cummings said.

Alizee, who is a half-sister to Golden Rose winner Astern, already has a Group Three placing to her name having run second to Tulip in the Magic Night Stakes. She paraded with a winter coat with Cummings suggesting there was plenty of improvement still to come.

“I love that she has produced that off one trial and with the top weight. You can’t underestimate the quality of the opposition,” Cummings said.

“I’m really pleased that given the way she paraded that she put them away like that. She has definitely given us signs that she is ready to go bang now that she has turned three.

“It was good to see Glyn (Schofield) ride her like he knew her. Although wide with cover he was able to use her action coming to the bend – she has a got a big action and a big engine to go with it.”

TAB wasted no time in trimming Alizee’s Golden Rose quote from $26 into $15 but Cummings suggested he has a different path in mind for the filly.

“We have got colts for (the Golden Rose) but certainly with the sort of feel she is giving me the Princess Series could be a nice circuit for her to tack on to,” said Cummings.

Schofield had the filly in a lovely stalking position throughout and despite the much smaller Songlike fighting doggedly, there was never really a moment’s doubt for punters that took the short odds.

“Cover was the most important thing,” Schofield said, “She only had the one trial coming in and James just wanted me to be more conservative than bold early on. He told me she would be very strong late and that’s exactly what she was.”

“Having had my first sit on her today she was quite fresh in the (yard). There is a lot to like about how she finished off and she relaxed so sweetly for me even though she was fresh. When I popped her to the outside I could really sense that she wanted to run. There is a lot in store for her.”

Nice win by the very smart colt Alizee for @godolphin bringing up an early double for @JamesCummings88 @atc_races #SpringCarnivalWatch pic.twitter.com/Xr02kER7sZ

— Ashleigh McGregor (@mcgregs29) August 2, 2017

Check out the replays and results for Warwick Farm on Wednesday