Saltaire scorches Randwick turf to earn Inglis Nursery success
Daughter of Star Turn wins head-bobbing thriller in $500,000 contest to set path towards autumn features
Promising Star Turn (Star Witness) filly Saltaire (2 f ex Testa Sarah by Testa Rossa) showed talent and toughness in equal measure to prevail in a thrilling head-bobbing duel and claim yesterday’s Inglis Nursery (RL, 1000m) at Randwick, setting her on a possible path towards the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) in March.
In the short eight-year history of the Inglis-restricted Nursery for two-year-olds, only one filly had previously claimed the lucrative prize pot, that being 2016 winner She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain), who three months later went on to win Australia’s crowning juvenile Group 1 back at Randwick, in a season she was named champion two-year-old.
This year’s running of the $500,000 contest was all about the fillies, as the 1000-metre scamper developed into blistering display of speed between the John O’Shea-trained Saltaire and even-money favourite Facile, a debutant daughter of Widden Stud’s first season sire Trapeze Artist (Snitzel), with the clock showing the merit of both performances.
It was Facile, prepared by her sire’s trainer Gerald Ryan, and Sterling Alexiou, who took pole position, jumping from barrier five into an early lead and set furious fractions, running a split of 9.97 seconds from the 800-metre mark to the 600 metres. Saltaire, leaving the inside gate, tracked Facile on the fence, but was veered out by rider Kerrin McEvoy to make her challenge at the 300-metre mark, and took the remaining length of the straight to grind down her rival and win by a short half head. The final 600 metres was run in a time of 33.67 seconds.
Blanc De Blanc (I Am Invincible), who as the $1.12 favourite defeated Saltaire by a neck in a Newcastle maiden on November 27, stayed on for third, beaten three-quarters of a length, despite the filly having to traverse a wide passage to the finishing post.
The winning time was 56.75 seconds on the Good 4 surface, with only 2020 winner Acrobat (Fastnet Rock) having stopped the clock in a quicker time, when completing the 1000 metres in 56.02 seconds – the prevailing class record time at Randwick.
“The Newcastle form must be alright because Michael’s (Freedman) horse got trapped wide and ran very well as well in the race. You go to Newcastle thinking it’s going to be an easy race, but there’s no easy race in New South Wales,” O’Shea said.
“She’s coped with it all very well and trained on. We worked her with Waihaha [Falls] on Tuesday and that’s indicative of how much confidence we have in her.
“I said to Kerrin today, ‘she’s ready to rock and roll, so don’t muck around with her’ and he rode her beautifully, as he always does.
“She’s a tough, resilient filly and there’s nothing that phases her. She’ll have a little break now and come back for the autumn and you never know where she might end up.”
McEvoy, who rode just the solitary stakes winner during this year’s spring carnival, entered yesterday’s assignment on Saltaire high on confidence following her performance in trackwork in recent weeks.
“She took good improvement. I rode her on Tuesday morning. John had been pleased with her since that gritty run at Newcastle running some slick time,” he said.
“She has done a really good job there. She knuckled through when half off the bridle into a confined space around the corner.
“She got through, got her nose through the gap and then coasted nicely when the favourite was wilting the last bit.
“She worked out wide on [the Kensington track] the other morning. As they can do, she spotted the winning post on her outside and clocked off the last 100 metres of her work the other morning. She still put together some solid work. You’d like to think she is still getting the hang of it. She is small, but really pretty.”
The Tony Fung Investments-owned Facile was ridden by Brenton Avdulla and he was encouraged by the filly’s display despite defeat.
“She ran really well. We haven’t been able to get off the bridle at home,” Avdulla said of the $420,000 Inglis Easter yearling.
“First time she has come off the bridle. She wasn’t sure what to do, but then her last 50 metres through the line was good.”
While victory for Saltaire represented a rare success for the fillies, it added yet another to the tally of graduates of the Inglis Classic sale to have won the race, an auction which has now provided three of the eight winners, with the Easter sale having produced four and the Inglis Melbourne Premier sale one, that being last year’s scorer El Padrino (Street Boss).
Offered by Vinery Stud, Saltaire was purchased for $140,000 by Kitchwin Hills’ Mick Malone on behalf of owners Neil Werrett and Max Whitby, in whose green silks with a yellow star and red and white checked epaulettes the filly races.
“I’m really happy for the ownership group, Neil and Max and, of course, Mick Malone, who picked her out. He does a great job,” O’Shea said. “She’s a cheap filly and has now won half a million. We’ve got a first–time owner in Daniel MacPherson, so it’s a really good group of people.”
Saltaire, who is from the fourth crop of Star Turn, became the Vinery Stud stallion’s sixth individual stakes winner and second juvenile black-type scorer. He has had six juveniles earn black type from 62 runners, with Star Turn having produced 122 runners in total.
The filly is the third foal out of Testa Sarah, an unraced daughter of Vinery’s pensioned sire Testa Rossa (Perugino), who as a broodmare sire has 25 individual stakes winners, five of whom have earned success at Group 1 level, from 884 runners.
Testa Sarah is herself a half-sister to five winners, including South Australian eight-time winner Renegade (Commands). Saltaire’s third dam is the Listed winner Calming (Zeditave), while South African Grade 1 winner War Artist (Orpen) appears under her fourth dam All Kisses (Rubiton).
Having already produced a winning sister to Saltaire in Avolonte (Star Turn), Testa Sarah has a yearling colt by All Too Hard (Casino Prince) and was not served in 2021.
Inglis Nursery splits
1000m-800m 11.97
800m-600m 9.97
600m-400m 10.59
400m-200m 11.33
200m-finish 11.84
Last 600m 33.73