Kneeling showed she is a filly with a big future when proving too strong at the finish in the $101,000 Crockett Stakes (Listed) at Moonee Valley this afternoon. Given a lovely ride by Michael Rodd, Kneeling jumped away sharply and settled in fourth place behind the leader and on the inside.

Looking for room into the straight, Kneeling gave the Group 1-performed Hallowell Belle a start but she found plenty for Rodd and chased hard, getting up in the final strides to score by half a head over Hallowell Belle (Starcraft).

Kneeling (3 f Encosta de Lago – Sunday Service, by Sunday Silence) was racing for the first time this preparation and was racing at Moonee Valley for the first time. A gallop around the tight circuit on Tuesday convinced Glen Thompson that the filly would have no problems. “She’s a very adaptable filly and handles everything in her stride so I wasn’t too worried about how she’d handle the track.” a smiling Thompson said.

“She’s a lovely filly around the stable. She has done everything right from day one. It’s all looking good coming into the spring. We thought she’d be best in the spring so we just put her in the paddock and gave her a freshen up.

“At this stage she’s heading to the Thousand Guineas but we’ll just play it a race at a time.”