It was the girls to the fore at Randwick on Saturday as 3YO Dame Giselle added another G2 to her resume and Sweet Deal led in a trifecta of Inglis graduates in the G3 Toy Show.
On another big early spring Saturday for Inglis-sold horses, Dame Giselle (I Am Invincible x Ballet Society) stepped out on race day as a 3YO for the first time and proved she had retained the quality she had shown as a 2YO with a strong front-running win in the G2 Silver Shadow Stakes.
And Sweet Deal (Casino Prince x Dorothy Evelyn) defied a big weight and a lack of race fitness to outlast fellow Inglis graduates Zaniah and Seasons in a tight finish in the Toy Show.
The fantastic start to the 2020/21 racing season comes on the back of Inglis graduates having won 159 Stakes races through the 2019/20 Australian season, 10% more than graduates of the next best auction house.
Having won the G2 Reisling Stakes as a juvenile, Dame Giselle (pictured) is now a Group winner at two and a Group winner at three, a remarkable effort given she’s only raced seven times.
Today’s win came in the first leg of the Princess Series, a path the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Dame Giselle will continue down with the Furious Stakes, Tea Rose Stakes and G1 Flight Stakes targets throughout the spring.
Bred by China Horse Club and offered at the Easter Yearling Sale by Sledmere Stud, Dame Giselle is a $500,000 purchase for Go Bloodstock – she’s now won almost $1m in prizemoney and is a very valuable breeding prospect moving forward.
“It was a good tough win first up, she was pretty strong, her trial looked great and it’s good to see her back in form and to see her frank her 2YO form too,’’ Sledmere’s Royston Murphy said.
“She always had plenty of scope about her and I thought what she did as a 2YO was great because I didn’t think she’d be such an early 2YO.
“She’s matured now and thickened up and I think she’ll definitely make a really nice 3YO and hopefully she can grab that G1 this prep. I always thought she’d get a mile so the Flight Stakes looks like a great target for her now.
“China Horse Club are our biggest supporters and they’re delighted, so we’re delighted.’’
Winning co-trainer Paul Snowden added: “She’s got a good campaign in front of her, she’s definitely not screwed right down yet but that easy section we were afforded mid race certainly helped in the end.
“Hopefully we can see a bit more sun and this dry weather around.’’
Two races later it was yet another Stakes trifecta for Inglis graduates as Sweet Deal (Classic Yearling Sale) returned a winner and showed she was in for a big spring campaign, defeating Zaniah (Easter Yearling Sale) and Seasons (Premier Yearling Sale).
Despite carrying 59kg, the 6YO Pip Cooper-bred mare scored a ninth career win and took her earnings to almost $760,000 – Craig Rounsefell’s Boomer Bloodstock purchased her for just $67,500 from the draft of Lincoln Farm in 2016.
“She was a big powerful type as a yearling with a beautiful head and eye and she has one of my favourite brands on her shoulder, Edinglassie Stud (a brand also carried by the runner-up). My budget was $65k and thankfully my client Calie Stone gave me the nod to have one more bid which got her,’’ Rounsefell said.
“She showed plenty of ability from the start, running third on debut in the Widden Stakes as an early two-year-old and has been very well handled by John Thompson developing her into a top-class sprinting mare.
“She has some nice G2 targets coming up like the Sheraco and the Golden Pendant in Sydney and then possibly a Melbourne Campaign.’’
Inglis Release
