Upscale uplifts Avdulla’s day at Rosehill

As she did a few weeks ago, Upscale has given jockey Brenton Avdulla something to smile about at the end of a long day at Rosehill.

Avdulla had a full book of rides on Saturday’s nine-race program but it took until the last event to get his name on the winners’ list when the Kris Lees-trained mare held off Secret Trail to win theTAB.com.au (1100m).

The jockey started the day equal with Tim Clark on the Sydney premiership and had the opportunity to go clear with his rival riding in Perth and was grateful for Upscale.

“She’s done a good job and she did the same about a month ago when I’d had a bad day,” Avdulla said.

Upscale won the final race at Rosehill on October 29 and had not run since with Lees deciding to keep her fresh.

He had also entered her for a1200m race on the program but decided to keep her to the shorter trip.

“She had a week at the farm and freshened up nicely,” Lees said.

“She’s got a lot of natural speed but she has had a few issues so she wether she can stretch out in distance is a query.

“She is also better off on softer tracks.

“I think she has black-type potential so we might look at a race in Brisbane for her.”

Upscale ($3.50) led all the way to beat Secret Trail ($6) by a neck with favourite Firsthand ($3.20) another 1-1/4 lengths third.