Tofane was able to lead all of the way in the first Group 1 of the 2022 calendar year, bringing up her fourth victory at the highest level in the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield.
The Michael Moroney-trained mare recorded back-to-back Group 1 wins in Queensland during the Brisbane Winter Carnival when winning the Stradbroke Handicap and Tattersall's Tiara, but she didn't reach those heights again in the spring carnival.
Despite never winning when first-up, the bonny mare was well-fancied in the C.F. Orr, starting a $7.50 chance in the 12-horse field.
After pinging out of the barriers, Mark Zahra took the six-year-old daughter of Ocean Park straight to the front, where she was able to control the race to suit herself.
The race complexion was flipped on its head when Lightsaber – the likely leader – was slow to begin, which allowed Zahra to take the race by the scruff of the neck.
“We really thought that the three-year-old (Lightsaber) would lead and we'd go forward and sit outside it…but it didn't work out because the three-year-old was slow away,” Moroney told Racing.com.
“We were left in front – it was a good front-running ride and we had them beaten a long way out.”
The 1400m specialist has now won $3.3 million in prizemoney, but her trainer plans on winning more before her swansong in the autumn.
The mare is set to run in the Futurity Stakes on February 26 over 1400m at Caulfield, before she is likely to head to Sydney for one final race.
Tofane is now in her final racing campaign, before she goes through the Magic Millions Broodmare Sales after the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
“Probably the Futurity, and then we're going to take it from there – either stay here or we head up to Sydney,” Moroney said.
“Sydney will be her swansong I think, and I think she'll probably go through the sales at Magic Millions.”
Both Lighthouse and Cascadian closed off stylishly to fill the minor placings, while Sierra Sue and I'm Thunderstruck finished off their races well.
After starting favourite, Behemoth was disappointing, dropping out to run 10th, despite having a comfortable run outside Tofane.
Tofane is now into $7 for the Futurity Stakes, while she has also firmed in to $10 for the Coolmore Legacy Stakes (1600m) which will be run at Royal Randwick on April 9.