Kermadec’s Montefilia strikes in Flight Stakes.
The David Payne-trained Montefilia handed her sire Kermadec (Teofilo) his biggest day as a stallion on Saturday as she trounced her classy rivals to win the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick.
The filly is the fourth foal and one of three winners out of the British-bred stakes-placed Shirocco (Monsun) mare Bana Wu. She was sold by Tyreel Stud for $92,500 at the 2018 Inglis Australian Broodmare and Weanling Sale to Victorian breeder Sean Duke in foal to Arrowfield Stud shuttler Shalaa (Invincible Spirit).
Duke has retained a share in that filly who sold to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and she will likely be aimed at the Inglis Banner 2YO Stakes (RL, 1000m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day.
"The first foal I sold out of the mare was a Shalaa to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace for $160,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale earlier this year and I retained a share in the filly," said Duke. "She is called Nice For What and they are hoping she will be aimed at the Inglis Banner on Cox Plate day, so they obviously have a high opinion of her.
"Bana Wu has a yearling colt by Ribchester that I would be hoping will now go to Easter. He is a nice looking colt, who we think a lot of. The mare actually had a positive to Shalaa on Tuesday. I wasn't sure whether to go back to Kermadec or not, but the best of both worlds would be to go back to Kermadec next year."
Better known for his exploits as a stallion producing stoute stayers, Shirocco is probably best known in Australia for being the sire of dual Australian Group 3 winner Prince Of Arran, who finished second in last year's Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), having finished third in 2019 and will be having his third crack at the Flemington showpiece this year.
In winning the Flight Stakes on Saturday, Montefilia became the first Group 1 for Shirocco as a broodmare sire, taking his overall tally in this field to nine, joining Group 2 winner Telecaster, who like Montefilia is bred on the Galileo (Sadler's Wells) line, being out of a son of the great Coolmore stallion in New Approach, while is German Group 3 scorer Whispering Angel (Soldier Hollow) is also out of a daughter of Shirocco.
Montefilia was purchased by Dean Harvey's Baystone Farm as a weanling for $62,000 at the Inglis Great Southern Sale from the Tyreel Stud draft, she was then subsequently re-offered by the same farm at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and bought by Payne for $130,000.
Payne said after the race the filly would now likely back-up in the Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and by the looks of her female line the step up in trip should cause no issues for the filly with her pedigree littered with classy staying types.
Placed three times at Listed level in England, Bana Wu herself is a daughter of My Way (Marju), who produced four winners, while My Way herself is out of Ausherra (Diesis).
Ausherra showed her affinity for the longer distances when winning the Lingfield Oaks Trial (Listed, 1m3.5f) in 1991, but she was no stranger to producing top-class sprinting types with her eight winners headed by dual Group 2 winner Strategic Prince (Dansili), while her other stakes winning progeny included Yorkshire (Generous), whose nine victories ranged over distances from a mile all the way up to two and a half miles, headlined by a win in the Aston Park Stakes (Listed, 1m4f).
The filly's fourth dam - Group 3-winning Princess Of Man (Green God) - produced champion mare Ramruma (Diesis) - whose five wins included victories in the Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f) and the Irish equivalent, as well in the Yorkshire Oaks (Gr 1, 1m3.5f), which saw her crowned Champion Three-Year-Old filly in Europe in 1999 and Champion Older Female in Great Britain in 2000.
Princess Of Man is also the grandam of All The Good (Diesis), who landed the 2008 edition of the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m).
Kermadec - who won the Doncaster Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) and George Main Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) in 2015 - is the sire of four winners in total from 26 runners and he stands at Darley's Kelvinside base for a fee of $13,750 (inc GST). His first crop performed well in the sales ring with 63 yearlings selling in 2019 at an average of $84,997 and top price of $520,000 whilst this year 19 have sold at an average of $70,851.
