Kiwi import Saone broke maiden ranks in impressive style on Tuesday when winning over 1400m at the Ballarat Synthetic meeting.
Prepared from the Warrnambool base of Western Australian trainer Lindsey Smith, the daughter of Burgundy had previously run third on debut at Bendigo where she produced slick closing sectionals after being forced to travel wide from barrier 16.
Despite resenting the kick-back from the newly laid synthetic surface, Saone motored home once angled into the clear by jockey Dean Yendall. “She’s a nice filly. She is only two and she is looking for 2000m and that will come to her,” Smith said. “She is a really nice horse and has got a good future. She came to me from the breakers and pre-trainers in New Zealand and she has done a lot in her short life.
“We will give her a freshen-up and try and find some three-year-old races when she comes back.” Yendall concurred with Smith’s assessment, with the filly viewed as a potential Oaks prospect. “She is a good staying-type and going places,” he said.
Saone was purchased privately after winning a Cambridge trial last October for Chad Ormsby, with prominent syndicator Brad Spicer and Craig Pearce’s Princeton Thoroughbred Stud amongst the new ownership group. Ormsby initially bought the half-sister to stakes winner Respin and Group 3-placed Dame Margo Fonteyn for $110,000 from the Book 1 draft of Cambridge Stud at the 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales.