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Daughter of I Am Invincible chalks up first win at Randwick.
Trainer Annabel Neasham is confident there is more to come from Ashema (2 f ex Omniscient by Exceed And Excel) as the two-year-old daughter of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) broke her maiden at the fourth attempt at Randwick-Kensington on Thursday.
The filly finished second on debut behind subsequent stakes winner Acrobat (Fastnet Rock), before running third on her second start behind leading Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) fancy Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) and she then finished 11th in the Inglis 2YO Millennium (RL, 1100m) on February 6.
Dropped down in class on Thursday, Ashema dug deep in the final stages under Tommy Berry to beat Yearning (Snitzel) by a head. Riduna (Fastnet Rock) was a further nose away in third.
Neasham said they would consider the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) for the filly, but warned she may not be up to getting out to 1200 metres.
"She's a pretty smart filly and the second horse looked good in it's trials, so it might be a strong race," said Annabel Neasham
"At this time of year you look at a race like the Percy Sykes, but I'm not sure she's ready for 1200 metres, but it would be great to get some more black-type with her."
Bred by Aquis Farm, the filly is now raced by a syndicate that includes the Fung Family after she was passed in at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale when she failed to make her $800,000 reserve.
Ashema is the first winner from two foals to race out of winning and stakes placed Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Omniscient and she is herself a daughter of Omens (Octagonal).
Further back this is the same pedigree as Group 1 winner Erewhon (Commands), Group 2 winner Manana (Crown Jester), Group 3 scorer Skytrain (Lonhro) as well as Listed scorer Accept (Military Plume).
Omniscient's yearling by Spieth (Thorn Park) is called Velvet Haze, while last spring she produced a filly by Santos (I Am Invincible) and she was covered by Lean Mean Machine (Zoustar) last November.
Ashema becomes the ninth two-year-old winner for the season in Australia and New Zealand for I Am Invincible, with the ennead headed by four stakes winners including Group 2 winner Home Affairs, who will line-up in the Golden Slipper Stakes on Saturday and New Zealand Group 2 scorer Imperatriz.
I Am Invincible has 53 lots catalogued at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, including a colt out of Listed winner Madeenaty (Exceed And Excel), meaning he is bred on the same cross as Ashema. The two-day sale gets underway on April 6.
