Trainer Rob Heathcote and prominent owner Tosh Murphy unearthed a potential Stakes winner when Tango Fever cruised home in the Ladbrokes Hcp (1200m) at Eagle Farm.
The 2yo daughter of Vinery legend More Than Ready (USA) sat in the box seat on Saturday when racing first-up since an initial campaign back in December. Despite drifting as the $3 favourite, she was always travelling like a winner to defeat He’s For The Girls (Rothesay) and Five Star Vixen (Headwater).
“Tosh phoned last year and asked if I had any room in my stables for six horses,” Heathcote recalled. “He’s a lovely owner because he gives me a free run. We’ve had lots of winners like Drive A Deel (Dundeel) and most of them have been in town so he’s pretty happy.
“It’s not just luck. It’s more the quality of horses he’s sent to me.”
Tango Fever (2f More Than Ready – Tango Fire by Anabaa) is a quality filly indeed and she was bred and sold by Vinery partner Greg Perry for $140,000 at the 2022 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
Her older half-sister Tango’s Daughter (Redoute’s Choice) had won the Queen Of The South Stakes (Gr.2, 1600m) and Nitschke Stakes (LR, 1400m) for trainer Mick Price during the 2014 Adelaide Cup carnival.
She also has a yearling half-brother by Headwater that made $100,000 to the bid of Tom Dabernig at this year’s Melbourne Premier.
Tango Fever is from the final southern crop sired by More Than Ready and her Eagle Farm victory came on the anniversary of his Group 2 triumph in the Sanford Stakes (1200m) at Saratoga in 1999.
Prepared by Hall Of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, More Than Ready also blitzed the 2000 Group 1 King’s Bishop Stakes (1400m) by nine lengths at the Spa a year before he commenced an unprecedented 19 southern seasons shuttling to Vinery Stud.
More Than Ready was back in the frame at Saratoga’s season-opener on Thursday when Diva Ready won a Fillies & Mares Turf Claimer over 1100m. The 4yo filly is trained by Robert Klesaris and had already won at Aqueduct, Delaware Park, Keeneland, Laurel Park and Woodbine for Knollwood Stables.
Her dam Mango Diva (Holy Roman Emperor) had won the Upavon Fillies Stakes (LR, 2000m) at Salisbury in England for trainer Sir Michael Stoute before being purchased by leading Kentucky breeder George Strawbridge (Augustin Stables).
More Than Ready, who died in August 2022, was an Australian Top 10 Broodmare Sire in 2022-23 with 10 individual Stakes winners headed by Group 1 winners Shinzo (ATC Golden Slipper Stakes), Coolangatta (VRC Lightning Stakes) and King Colorado (BRC J J Atkins Stakes).
