More Te Akau Black Type

The Informant reports on today's stakes' win by the Te Akau bred Windborne - the full (little) sister to stakes' winner Darci's Dream:

Windborne whetted the appetite for a potential clash with Maritimo when she took her record to two from two with an exceptional win in the Listed Murdoch Newell Stakes at Avondale today.

The two star fillies, both unbeaten in two starts and both stakes winners, are on a Karaka Million collision course and may also clash in the Gr. 3 Eclipse Stakes at Ellerslie on New Year's Day.

Windborne may have won her stakes race today by a smaller margin than Maritimo did in the Wellesley Stakes, but she was every bit as good.

After breaking first from the gates, Windborne was suddenly in trouble as Thwayya and The Dark Knight turned on the turbos and crossed her from their outside gates. Windborne did not take kindly to their intrusion, throwing her head in the air and racing fiercely for close to 100 metres.

“They attacked me from the outside and just got her over-racing,” winning rider Matt Cameron said. “But then we eased out of that speed duel and after a little while she just relaxed beautifully.”

The winning of the race came soon after the home turn, when Windborne exploded to the lead 300 metres from the finish. Her margin dwindled as she gawked and lost her way a little down the straight, but she had already put the result beyond any doubt.

Windborne won by a length and a half. First-starter Cinematic took second in a tight three-way photo, beating She Is Stryking by a nose with Showboy another nose behind in fourth. The 1100-metre contest was run in 1:04.21.

“That turn of foot at the 300 was very impressive,” Windborne's trainer Jason Bridgman enthused. “She was a little bit green when she hit the front but that was a very good performance. It was surprising how easily she did it.”

The Darci Brahma filly impressed with a winning debut at Ellerslie late last month, and she stepped up to another level today. But Bridgman said she is still nowhere near the finished product.

“There's still plenty of improvement in her,” he said. “She's only had one piece of work since that first win and she really just did all this on natural ability.

“She's an outstanding type of filly. She really has a lot of class and is beautifully put together. She's got a terrific temperament as well and ticks a lot of boxes. It's great to see it with a product of Te Akau Stud, homebred by David (Ellis) and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis).”

Windborne was bought by Fortuna's John Galvin for $100,000 at this year's Select Yearling Sale at Karaka.

She is a full sister to Darci's Dream, who finished a close second to Platinum Witness in last weekend's Gr. 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.

“It's been a great last seven days for the family,” Bridgman said. “I think this filly has a touch more speed than Darci's Dream, she's more precocious and is really quite a natural two-year-old type.”

Now all but guaranteed to have enough stakes earnings to make the field for the Karaka Million, the focus has shifted to mapping out an ideal lead-in to the dash for cash at Ellerslie in late January.

“We'll probably go to the Eclipse and then straight into the Million from there,” Bridgman said. “There's about a three-week gap between those two races which is a nice lead-in to the Karaka Million.”

Cameron appears unlikely to want to swap Windborne for any other Karaka Million mount.

“She's a little pro,” he said. “You can't do any better than two from two. She's had a look at Ellerslie and been there and done that. She just does everything perfectly and is going to be pretty hard to beat.”

Runner-up Cinematic did her connections proud on debut, finding the line strongly and hinting at a successful season. The Australian-bred daughter of Dane Shadow is ineligible for the Karaka Million and may instead target such features as the Gr. 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes.

It is a similar story with the fellow Aussie bred She Is Stryking, who improved significantly on her first-start fourth and will be one to follow through the season.

The previously unbeaten Thwayya was unable to continue the extraordinary run of Graeme and Debbie Rogerson, which now stands at 11 wins from 14 races. She had her work cut out from the start when she had to work hard to make the lead from her second-to-outside gate. That effort took its toll and she finished fifth, five lengths from the  winner.