There will be added incentives if Headwater’s Stakes-winning fillies Jamaea and Aitch Too Oh improve their black-type strike-rates this Saturday.
The Vinery sire has 14 Inglis Classic Sale yearlings entered at Riverside Stables as from Sunday and the momentum began building with a stunning victory by his Hong Kong sprinter We Are Hero earlier this week.
Jamaea wasn’t disgraced after being caught wide first-up on a Soft 6 in the $1million Magic Millions Fillies & Mares (1300m) on the Gold Coast last month. She will strip much fitter for the Triscay Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m) albeit from another wide alley at Randwick.
Aitch Too Oh signed off her spring program winning the Red Roses Stakes (Gr.3, 1100m) at Flemington in November and she resumes in a wide-open field for the Kevin Hayes Stakes (Gr.3, 1100m) at Sandown. “We knew she was talented from the moment she walked into the stable,” co-trainer Richard Jolly said. “We were ecstatic after the Red Roses and she’s a valuable filly for the future.
“We were going to give her a fresh run at home but the Durbridge Stakes came too early,” Jolly added. “She’s been given two jump-outs and will be suited by the conditions at Sandown. She’s a quality filly and it’s hard to place Stakes winners like her at home until races like the Redelva Stakes and Euclase Stakes come around at the Adelaide carnival.”
Aitch Two Oh (3f Headwater – Very Dogmatic by Swiss Ace) was bred and sold by Baramul Stud for $65,000 at the 2021 Adelaide Magic Millions. She has earned $374,000 on the back of a black-type breakthrough in the Without Fear Stakes (LR, 1050m) at Morphettville last May.
At Sha Tin last Sunday, We Are Hero came from second-last to win the Po Tin Hcp (1000m) with a blistering late sectional down the straight course under Hugh Bowman. He weaved between runners in a performance that would have captured the attention of Hong Kong trainers and agents heading to the Inglis Classic Sale.
Manfred Man trains We Are Hero and he also prepared last Sunday’s Centenary Sprint Cup (Gr.1, 1200m) winner Lucky Sweynesse. “It was a clever ride Hugh from the outside gate,” Man said. “I was confident he could win but not that easily.”
We Are Hero (5g Headwater – Kinsella by Shamardal) was sold by Victorian-based Kulani Park for $125,000 at the 2019 Adelaide Magic Millions and his earnings currently stand at AUD531,000.
Kulani Park has a yearling colt by Vinery sire All Too Hard catalogued as Lot 455 at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale next month. His dam Granada Star (Starcraft) is a full-sister to Celebrity Star (VRC Cap D’Antibes Stakes LR) and the dam of Healthy Happy (HKJC Chinese Challenge Cup Gr.3).
Vinery’s first Headwater at the Inglis Classic Sale is the colt from Here To Joy (Lot 473). His unraced dam has foaled four winners including Happy Sebring who won four races in Hong Kong for trainer Tony Cruz.
