To Cap It All (AUS)
To Cap It All (AUS)
2 f Capitalist – Oh My Mimi by Snitzel
O: 2024 Bourbon Lane Stables New Zealand LLC Partnership, Dennis E Foster, Mrs R A Carter, P R Cole, B Kendall, Dr P H Mitchell, A Opie, A P Saker & D W Wallace
B: Ridgmont Farm, Boutique Thoroughbreds, NSW
T: Stephen Marsh
S: 2024 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale V: Ridgmont P: Stephen Marsh / Dylan Johnson Bloodstock, $280,000
W: Star Group Wellesley Stakes, Listed, 1100m, January 11, Trentham
Cambridge-based trainer Stephen Marsh was rewarded for his investment on Saturday when $280,000 Inglis Easter Graduate To Cap It All secured an impressive debut victory in the Wellesley Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Trentham.
The filly started a $2.60 favourite off the back of a stylish two-length trial victory at Pukekohe on December 17, and jumped well to lead the ten-runner field, fighting back tenaciously after being headed in the straight, to narrowly defeat the Bryce Newman-trained Abbakiss (Microphone) by 0.1 lengths, with Mike Breslin’s Intention (Bivouac) a further 0.3 lengths away in third.
“We were confident coming into today. Stephen has had a big opinion of her all the way through, and she’s a filly with a lovely attitude,” Marsh’s Bloodstock agent, Dylan Johnson, said.
“It’s never easy for a first-starter in a race like this, going up against proven stakes horses. It was a massive effort to travel this far and win on debut.”
Marsh and Johnson Bloodstock purchased To Cap It All from the Ridgmont draft at the 2024 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale for $280,000. The filly is the third foal and first winner out of the winning Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) mare Oh My Mimi, who herself is a half-sister to Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Barbaric (I Am Invincible). To Cap It All’s granddam Mimi Lebrock (Show A Heart) won the Tristarc Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and placed in both the Myer Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) and Emirates Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
“We loved this filly right from the moment we first saw her,” Johnson said. “You have to pay a bit of money to buy nice fillies like her, but we’re lucky to have an amazing group of owners that put their support behind us to do that.
“She’s a big, strong filly who moved beautifully at the sales. She looked great in the parade today and acquitted herself very well on debut.”
Although the filly is ineligible for the Karaka Millions, she is likely to be set for other black type targets later in the summer.
“She’s a stakes-winning filly with a big pedigree and has done a great job already,” Johnson said. “If we could push forward now to a race like the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes in February, that would be an ideal target.”
Alma Vale Thoroughbreds will offer To Cap It All’s Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) half-sister at the Inglis Classic Sale next month as Lot 491.