First stakes winner for Hallowed Crown.
Colette (3 f ex Libretto by Singspiel) could now back-up in next week's Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) after she landed the Adrian Knox Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) at Randwick on Saturday and became Hallowed Crown's (Street Sense) - who has relocated to Olly Tait's Twin Hills Stud this year - first stakes winner.
The James Cummings-trained filly came into the race having won her previous two starts and she ate up the ground in the straight to beat Toffee Tongue (Tavistock) by a decisive two and three quarter lengths.
"She might just set up nicely and be an interesting addition to the Oaks next week if we're very, very pleased with the way she is the next seven days," Cummings said.
"Three wins in a row can make it seem like (rapid progress) but that was quite a few weeks ago now and the team have done a great job with her to just treat her carefully.
"We treated her with kid gloves coming into it with a long range plan to target an Adrian Knox, which can suit a filly on the way through like her.
"The gap between runs for her last couple has been important and she's enjoyed that, but now she's at the serious end and she was two weeks between runs today and potentially a week back-up next week but she looks like she's got the constitution to handle it."
The filly is out of the unraced mare Libretto (Singspiel) making her a three-quarter sister to Listed winner Metastasio (Street Cry), while Libretto also produced Librettista (Elusive Quality) - the dam of Listed winner Frenzified (Yeats).
Meanwhile, the filly's second dam is Group 3 winner and high-class producer Truly Special (Caerleon) - the dam of Group 2 winner Wareed (Sadler's Wells) and Grade 2 winner Truly A Dream (Darshaan) - the dam of Group 2 winner Dream Peace (Dansili).
Truly A Dream also produced Truly Yours (Barathea), who in turn foaled Listed-winning pair True To Form (Rock Of Gibraltar) and Truly Mine (Rock Of Gibraltar) with the latter the dam of Group 3 winner Only Mine (Pour Moi).
Truly Special also foaled Solo De Lune (Law Society) - the dam of Group 1 winner Cerulean Sky (Darshaan) - the dam of Listed winner Honolulu (Montjeu).
Cerulean Sky is the grandam of Group 2 winner Royal Beach (Whipper) and Group 3-winning pair Mayhem (Whipper) and Memphis Tennessee (Hurricane Run).
Solo De Lune's other daughter Moonstone (Dalakhani) produced Group 3-winning trio Nelson (Frankel), US Army Ranger (Galileo) and Words (Dansili) as well as Listed scorers Stubbs (Danehill Dancer) and Nevis (Dansili).
Moonstone's Listed-winning three-quarter sister L'Ancresse (Darshaan) also produced Listed-winning pair Master Of Reality (Frankel) and Chamonix (Galileo).
Libretto was retired from broodmare duties last year while Colette becomes Singspiel's (In The Wings) 90th stakes winner as a broodmare sire.
It was a great result for Olly Tait's Twin Hills Stud who will stand Hallowed Crown at his New South Wales-based stud in 2020 having stood his first five seasons at Darley. His fee remains at $11,000 (inc GST) again this year.
