600 kilo Vera’s Secret outmuscles Leopardstown rivals

Vera’s Secret showed her rivals a clean pair of heels to win the Al Shira’aa Racing ‘Mutamakina’ Stakes at .

The six-year-old, trained by John Feane and ridden by Seamie Heffernan, was making her seasonal bow having last been seen coming home fifth in the Listed Concorde Stakes at Tipperary in October.

She was an 11-2 chance to hit her stride instantly when stepping up to Group Three level, and quickly took the lead to make all of the running.

It was a position she did not surrender as the race developed and in fact she only pulled further clear, eventually prevailing by four lengths from Gavin Cromwell’s Fiery Lucy.

“She was good last year and hasn’t had a lot of racing,” said the winning trainer.

“She is a big, strong six-year-old now, a quality filly and she proved it there today.

“She goes well fresh and is a bit more relaxed this year, so we kept it simple today.

“Nathan Crosse was to ride her. He’s done a lot of work with her this year but he had to go to Germany today and Seamie was an able substitute.

“She’s entered in the Lanwades Stud Stakes and later on in the year will probably come back here for the Matron Stakes, but that is a long way off. She doesn’t take too much running.

“She will come on for that run today. She is over 600 kilos and takes plenty of work at home. She’s a tough bit of stuff.”