Melbourne, September 11 – Brilliant mare Rewaaya shook off the dreaded ‘bridesmaid’ tag with an emphatic victory in the Group Three Let’s Elope Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.
“She’s been multiple stakes-placed and Group One placed so she really deserved to win a stakes race and now that she’s done that, we can head straight to the Invitational at Caulfield where she’ll be the one to beat,” said a delighted David Hayes.
Unlike her previous start when Rewaaya had no luck at all, this time she enjoyed a perfect run in transit and did not go around a horse in sliding through along the fence to skip clear by two and a half lengths.
“She is as good a horse as I have in training and I just hope she will show it this spring. She can do things in trackwork that not many horses ever do,” enthused Hayes.
The elegant dark brown daughter of Singspiel (IRE) has now won four races from 12 starts earning prizemoney in excess of $400,000 for her owner/breeders Shadwell Australia.
Shadwell is the international breeding operation owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, with a number of its Australian mares based at Yarraman Park Stud including the dam and grand-dam of Rewaaya.
“Rewaaya was always a magnificent filly and we’ve been waiting so long for her to win a stakes race. It’s just great to see her finally do it. She was raised here at Yarraman and we have most of her family here as well,” said Arthur Mitchell.
Her dam Nasmah, incidentally by the Sheikh’s Melbourne Cup winner At Talaq (USA), is due to foal to Redoute’s Choice later this spring and her grand-mother Asawir (a stakes-winning half-sister to Snippets) has already produced a Redoute’s Choice colt.
“He’s a very nice colt and Asawir will be going back to Redoute’s Choice along with Nasmah, provided she foals in time. She was covered quite late last season so might even go to Redoute’s Choice Northern Hemisphere time,” added Mitchell.