Palm Angel (AUS)
2 f Starspangledbanner – Noblest by Pivotal
O: Rosemont Stud
B: Rosemont Stud
T: Jason Warren
W: Merson Cooper Stakes, Listed, 1000m, November 30, Caulfield
Jason Warren’s smart filly Palm Angel (Starspangledbanner) added herself to an elusive honour roll that includes the likes of Group 1 winners Anamoe (Street Boss) and Little Brose (Per Incanto), when she scored an impressive debut win in the Merson Cooper Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at Caulfield last Saturday.
Sent out a $12 chance off the back of three jumpout wins at Mornington and Balnarring, Palm Angel jumped well to lead the field from barrier four under Ethan Brown.
The filly cornered well, kicking away from the her challengers with an electric turn of foot before holding out Ciaron Maher’s Wiltshire Square (Wootton Bassett) by 0.8 lengths, with Anthony and Sam Freedman’s Point Barrow (Blue Point) a further 1.2 lengths in third.
“We’ve liked this filly a lot from the first day we started galloping her,” Warren said.
“We didn’t want to go the early crow but she’s by Starspangledbanner out of a Pivotal mare and we had a bit of fun with a mare called Brooklyn Hustle bred on the same cross, and I said to the boys at Rosemont, the whole team, she’s pretty special, and she’s just shown that at the trials.
“We put her in a trial at Balnarring the other week against the older horses and she cleaned them up. We brought her here Tuesday and she never turned a hair. She’s very much the professional and she’s an exciting filly. She’ll have a freshen up now and then we’ll prepare for the Blue Diamond lead-up races.
“I do think she’ll probably be better on top of the ground. She’s probably one of the best I’ve trained so I’m looking forward to what we get in the autumn.”
Palm Angel is bred on the same cross as talented mare Brooklyn Hustle (Starspangledbanner), and looks to have been blessed with the same impressive turn of foot that the fellow Rosemont Stud–bred–and–owned filly could produce.
Brooklyn Hustle, a daughter of the Pivotal (Polar Falcon) mare Joint Aspiration, won four races for Rosemont and Warren including a Group 2 and a Group 3, and ran fourth in three Group 1s.
Palm Angel is the fourth foal and third to race out of UK maiden winner Noblest, making her a half-sister to stakes placegetter Narbold (Churchill), a winner in the Chris Waller stable. Noblest, who was purchased by Rosemont Stud at the 2016 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale for €125,000, has visited Zoustar (Northern Meteor) this year, but had yet to be tested at the day of publishing.
