MORE Than Ready’s has already delivered two Group One winners out of Danehill mares, could we have seen a third in the shape of Inglis Banner winner, Elite Falls?
The John O’Shea trained 2YO couldn’t have been any more impressive coming from well of pace before streaking away to record an emphatic 2.3-lens win in the $250,000 2yo event.
It was only her second career start following a solid fifth in the Gimcrack Stakes won by another More Than Ready filly in Defiant Dame.
“Elite Falls is a well-bred daughter of More Than Ready and she handles the wet,” O’Shea said.
“It always rains in Sydney during the autumn so we will put her aside now and concentrate on the next year. We won’t worry about going to Flemington, she’s done her job.”
More Than Ready has already sired two Golden Slipper winners in Sebring (2008) and Phelan Ready (2009), and is the sire of super-mare More Joyous and leading filly More Strawberries.
O’Shea said Elite Falls had no luck at Randwick and was confident the filly would prove hard to beat in the Inglis Banner.
“She had the benefit of race experience and that helped her but she is a high-quality filly,” O’Shea said. ”At Randwick she didn’t have much luck. She was wide all the way and still had the audacity to make a strong run half-way down the straight.
“We decided to bring her to Melbourne and gave her a trial on the inside grass at Flemington last Friday [week]. She handled that track well, got on her right leg and was comfortable going the Melbourne way. That gave us a fair bit of confidence going into today.”
Elite Falls is raced in part by WA business and prominent owner Keith Biggs and was sold for $300,000 at the 2010 Australia Easter Yearling Sale.
