Grenville Stud’s handsome Snitzel stallion Stratosphere is off the mark with his first winner coming at Hobart on Sunday, and he made it a quinella for good measure.
Stratosphere supplied half of the six runners in the Hype TV Maiden Plate (1000m), and the Graeme McCulloch-trained stablemates Encounter Sphere and Popilita fought out the finish.
With both making their career debuts, it was the gelding Encounter Sphere, under Chelsea Baker, who overpowered the filly Popilita to win by a length.
The short-priced Hilarity (All Too Hard) was a further one-and-a-quarter length back in third.
A Grenville Stud homebred, Encounter Sphere, failed to make his $45,000 reserve at the 2022 Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale.
He is the second winner from three to race from the Incumbent (Choisir) mare Flying Dami who failed to win in eleven starts.
Flying Dami is a half-sister to the stakes-winner Kenjorwood (Snippetson) and stakes-placed Queen La Diva. She missed in 2020 and slipped last year.
Stratosphere came close to getting off to the perfect start when Bona Fide Star was second on debut at Murray Bridge, earning him a shot at the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday. It did not work out for him there, but Bona Fide Star looks sure to win races.
Stratosphere made just one start in his career. The son of Snitzel was narrowly defeated by Performer in the Group III Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill.
He is a half-brother to Group III winner Sprightly Lass, who won six of her eight starts, and Listed winner Le Cordon Bleu out of the stakes-winning Rory’s Jester mare Ultimate Fever.
Stratosphere stands at Graeme and Christine McCulloch’s Grenville Stud for a fee of $4,400.
