3 minute read
Miravalle broke her maiden status with victory in the 3YO Yulong Stallions Maiden Handicap at Warwick Farm.
Arrowfield Pastoral celebrated its third notable winner in two days when Miravalle (by Redoute's Choice) broke her maiden status with victory in the first race of the day on the midweek metropolitan program in Sydney staged at Warwick Farm.
Trained by Mark Newnham and raced in the same colours as his 2018 Spring Champion Stakes (G1) winner Maid Of Heaven, Miravalle lined-up for only her second career start in the 3YO Yulong Stallions Maiden Handicap staged over 1400m and put in a polished performance, racing outside the leader for the most part of a slowly run eight-horse contest.
Sent for home by Rachel King at the top of the relatively short Warwick Farm straight, the beautifully-bred daughter of Redoute's Choice was always doing enough to hold her opposition at bay, even though runner-up Yangtze Rapids (by Frankel) closed late at a very great rate of knots.
Jack The Lad (by I Am Invincible) turned in a promising effort on debut to claim third.
Miravalle's victory came within 24 hours of an Arrowfield Pastoral double at Newcastle thanks to Reaching and Bucharest, a respective daughter and son of the ill-fated Japanese wonder sire Deep Impact.
A $460,000 yearling sale purchase, Miravalle is a half-sister to the 2016 Spring Champion Stakes winner Yankee Rose.
Speaking after the victory, trainer Mark Newnham revealed that he held hopes of developing Miravalle in to a possible Spring Champion Stakes contender, potentially assigning the Flight Stakes along the way.
The performance of the runner-up Yangtze Rapids should also give his connections every reason to plot a path towards the Spring Champion Stakes.
Ridden very cold at the tail of the field, the striking chestnut colt produced an eye-catching finish in the straight and only just failed to rein in the winner after affording the filly an eight-to-10 lengths start.
The son of Frankel actually holds a nomination for the Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill in late September, but gave every indication that he'll be looking for further and the wide expanses of Randwick racecourse to show his very best.
Warwick Farm's opening event also saw Covent Garden, an Exceed And Excel half-sister to the mighty Winx, have her second race start but fail to finish in the placings.
Set the task of leading after breaking sharply, Covent Garden was overtaken by the winner with 300 metres to race before battling on gamely for a close-up fourth.
Winning time of the race was 1m23.01s (last 600m in 33.98s).
Official margins were a Long-Head by Three-quarters of a Length.
SPs were $3.10 favourite, $3.60 and $7.50.
Following the race, tab.com.au gave Miravalle a $26.00 quote for the Flight Stakes and a $15.00 quote for the Spring Champion Stakes.
Similarly, Yangtze Rapids saw his odds for the Spring Champions Stakes clipped from $26.00 to $15.00 by tab.com.au.
The Star Thoroughbreds colours were carried to victory in the second race of the day at Warwick Farm's midweek meeting in Sydney when Joviality (by I Am Invincible) put together back-to-back victories in the space of three weeks.
The 1100-metre contest saw Joviality run a very rapid 1m02.17s (last 600m in 33.78s) to score, in so doing setting a new class record for journey and actually going within a fraction of breaking the Warwick Farm course record.
Winning trainer Chris Waller claimed after the win that there was no immediate plan in place for Joviality, who was having the fourth race start of her current campaign which kicked-off with a minor placing in a 900-metre maiden at Newcastle in the first week of July.
