Marvellous mare Montefilia (Kermadec) continued her progression towards the G1 Melbourne Cup with a dominant win in the $2m G2 Hill Stakes at Rosehill.
Trained by Chris Waller, Montefilia settled toward the rear of the big field before unleashing a powerful late sprint to score a decisive win in the Sydney feature.
The result was a significant one for Mr Zhang and Yulong, who paid $3.4m for her at this year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale, where she was offered as a racing and breeding prospect in the Newgate Consignment.
Yulong’s Sam Fairgray described (Saturday)’s result as “fantastic’’.
“Obviously with the investment Mr Zhang has put into the industry here in Australia in recent times, to be able to win a race with such great prizemoney so soon after buying Montefilia is fabulous and it’s just great to see a good mare back to form and winning,’’ Fairgray said.
“Chris [Waller] had targeted this race for a while and he just wanted her to be able to get back and relax and finish strongly and she certainly did that.
“She’s on a Melbourne Cup path but we’ll let Chris decide how she gets there, whether that’s via a Cox Plate or a Caulfield Cup or whatever.
“She cost a lot of money at the Chairman’s Sale but it’s just great to be able to access mares of her quality at the Chairman’s Sale and that’s exactly what that sale is all about.’’
Newgate Consignment’s Henry Field wasn’t at all surprised by (Saturday)’s result, nor by how much money Montefilia made at Riverside in early May.
“She got terrific exposure in the lead-up to a global audience and it’s fantastic to see Mr Zhang, who’s been a great supporter of the Newgate Consignment, having near instant success in a $2m race like this with her,’’ Field said.
“Chairman’s is a great sale, that mare had four different bidders on her from four different countries on the night which shows the global respect the Chairman’s Sale has from the leading international players.’’
Bred by Geoff Russell, Montefilia was initially a $62,000 Inglis Great Southern Sale purchase for Baystone Farm from the Tyreel Stud draft.
– Media Release
