Headphones had never won on a heavy track or past 1400m but those stats didn’t bother the Headwater mare when she stepped out for her 29th start in the Morphettville SkyCity Hcp (1514m) on Saturday.
She relished the Heavy 8 conditions and streeted her rivals when putting four lengths on runner-up Humboldt (Sacred Falls) and another five panels on minor-placed Aitch D’amico (Artie Schiller). The 6yo mare has now saluted in 6 of her 29 starts and also cracked $200,000 in prizemoney.
“She’s a nice mare and is always around the mark when things go to plan,” trainer Jordan Frew said. “The distance was a question mark today and when it started raining I thought about pulling the pin.
“I’m glad we stayed around and I told Sam (Payne) she might even appreciate getting right into the ground. We’re probably at the end of this prep but we will see how she pulls up before making a decision.”
Headphones was initially trained by Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra to win a Cranbourne maiden prior to transferring interstate last year. She’s a homebred for Phil Bennett and her dam Cybercyn (Staaraq) had won the Colin Hayes Memorial Cup (LR, 1600m) at Morphettville in 2011 before retiring to stud where she has five winners from six to race.
Headwater (Exceed And Excel) has 11 yearlings catalogued for the Gold Coast Magic Millions starting on Tuesday, January 9 and first to parade is the filly from Adelie (Red Ransom) on account of Cressfield.
Entering the sale-ring as Lot 400, she is a half-sister to the recent Chris Waller-trained Canterbury winner Tannenburg (Russian Revolution). Adelie is a full-sister to the Group 2 winner Portillo (AJC Surround Stakes & STC Magic Night Stakes) and a half-sister to the Snippets sires Snowland and Snippetson.
Another Headwater with a recent update is Carrington Park’s filly out of That’s Amore (More Than Ready) catalogued as Lot 1430. Her older half-sister Call the Union (Shamus Award) made it two wins in six starts at Sandown Hillside on November 29. Cranbourne trainer Trevor Rogers has lifted the bar with nominations for Caulfield over 2000m this Thursday and Saturday.
