Miss Stellabelle has turned the tables on a number of her rivals from the Toy Show Quality last start with a strong finish in today's Listed Mona Lisa Stakes at Wyong.
The ex Victorian mare ran below expectations on resuming last start in the Listed Toy Show (1300m) where she finished seventh behind today's rivals Irish Dream and Embark.
Miss Stellabelle was allowed to settle worse than midfield by leading rider Nash Rawiller and the pair received a perfect trail into the straight as they tracked race favourite Irish Dream.
Following a wide run in transit, Irish Dream's run began to weaken and Miss Stellabelle capitalised, striking the lead just outside the 100m before claiming a convincing Mona Lisa Stakes success.
“Nash was adamant to keep the blinkers on her today and try and give her cover from the win and she hit the line strong,” Gai Waterhouse Stable Representative Mark Newnham said.
Second up, rising in distance and with the addition of gun hoop Nash Rawiller, Miss Stellabelle was given every chance to post an improved result on her first up effort.
“We gave her three trials going into that first run but she still even took further improvement out of that,” Newnham said.
“We'll keep her in mares company and try and step up and win a couple of nice races to increase her broodmare value.”
Previously trained by Mark Kavanagh, Miss Stellabelle showed great promise during her two and three-year-old seasons posting a pair of stakes wins and three black type placings.
Former owner Laurence Eales elected to sell the Dehere mare following a lacklustre three-year-old autumn campaign and was acquired by Segenhoe Thoroughbreds at the 2012 Easter Broodmare Sales for $350,000.
Segenhoe's decision to acquire the mare was rewarded at Wyong today. It was Miss Stellabelle's third career win from 12 starts and now has prizemoney earnings in excess of $260,000.
