Melbourne, December 26 -– Stylish Stratum filly Manzanilla posted her first metropolitan win at Caulfield on Boxing Day with a tenacious victory over 1600 metres.
The Lee Freedman trained filly dived home hard late to beat her stablemate Exchanges by half a head in a thrilling finish.
“There’s not much between them and they are both nice fillies,” said stable representative, Sam Pritchard-Gordon.
“If she can stay a bit further then we’d look at a race like the Tasmanian Oaks… that might be an option for her.”
A $160,000 purchase from the Yarraman Park draft at Magic Millions for BBA Ireland, Manzanilla has won two of seven starts earning $55,767 in prizemoney.
She is a half-sister to this season’s stakes-winner Viking Hero and is one of four winners from the Zabeel mare Gypsy Dollar, a half-sister to Group I AJC Australian Derby winner Innocent King and Group II winner Royal Snack.
Yarraman Park sold a full sister to Manzanilla at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale earlier this year for $240,000 to Shadwell Stud Australasia, however Gypsy Dollar will have no yearling for the sales this year having missed in 2008.
Don’t miss the 2011 Magic Millions draft from Yarraman Park featuring 22 outstanding yearlings.
