Toffee Tongue came in to Saturday’s Group III Sky High Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens with just one win to her name, the Group 1 Schweppes Oaks at Morphettville last May.
Runner-up in the Group 1 ATC Oaks and Group 1 Turnbull Stakes, the Chris Waller-trained daughter of Tavistock was not expected to trouble Colette in the Sky High.
While Colette was back near the tail of the field, Toffee Tongue was given a positive ride by Tom Marquand. She found plenty under pressure to defeat the stubborn Spirit Ridge (GB) (Nathaniel) by a half-head with Mirage Dancer (GB) (Frankel) three-quarters of a length back in third.
Chris Waller said the daughter of Tavistoch was building up to a win.
Third-up last year she was beaten a nose by Verry Elleegant in the Turnbull,” Waller said.
“She’s done a great job, and it was a good field. The pressure was on throughout, so she’s a decent horse.
“I guess we’ll consider the BMW. Whether it comes too early for her I’m not too sure, but that is certainly the race we will be looking at.
“I thinking maybe a Doomben Cup type race for her, but today’s race was a very strong race, so maybe we might just raise the bar a little bit.”
Purchased by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock for $500,000 on behalf of Pinecliff Racing’s Jonathon Munz, from the Highden Park draft at the 2018 NZB Yearling Sale at Karaka, Toffee Tongue is the seventh foal of the winning Zabeel mare Bagalollies who was crowned the 2015-16 NZ Broodmare of the Year.
Toffee Tongue is a sister to Werther, Gobstopper, and Milseain.
Werther was second in both the South Australian and Queensland Derbies before his sale to Hong Kong. His wins included the Group 1HKJC Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Group 1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup, Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup and the Group II BMW Hong Kong Derby.
Gobstopper won the Group III New Zealand Cup, while Milseain was Group 1 NZ Oaks.
Bagalollies was purchased by Roger James for $145,000 out of the Cambridge Stud draft at the 2005 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. Five years later she was consigned by Trelawney Stud to the 2010 NZB National Broodmare Sale where Trent Bussutin signed the ticket for$30,000.
Bagalollies has an unraced 2yo colt by Tavistock named Memoire Parfait, but she had some bad luck in recent years.
After slipping twins in 2019, her colt foal by Tavistock died after birth last spring. She was bred back to The Autumn Sun.
