With just one of the ten starters behind her at the 200m, the 5-year-old Rich Enuff mare Lempicka came with a barnstorming finish to claim her third consecutive win and a maiden stakes success in Saturday's Listed Carlton Draught Alinghi Stakes at Caulfield.
Ridden by Blaike McDougall for Ken and Kasey Keys, Lempicka powered to a short-neck triumph over the Pride Of Dubai mare Hypothetical, with the favoured Written Tycoon mare Viviane a half-head back in third.
Sixth in the same race last year at her only other stakes attempt, Lempicka advances her record to six wins, a second and two thirds from 18 starts, with earnings of $307,000.
Keys also bred and raced the sire Rich Enuff, so it was an emotional victory for the father-and-daughter team.
"She’s a homebred, so it is the whole package with the sire and the rest of it, Ken Keys said.
“She’s always had massive ability, but we’ve probably got it wrong.
“It is all about putting young people on the map. It is all about her (Kasey) now.”
McDougall said the mae appreciates being ridden cold.
“She’s been running well in 70-grade and deserved at crack at stakes races,” he said.
“A valuable win today being a mare. She’s won seven races now and job done.
“The key is to ride this mare quiet. Just had to switch her off early and allow her to do her thing and utilise her turn-of-foot, and she did it today.”
Lempicka is the lone winner from two to race for the winning Excellent Art (GB) mare Hot Art, a half-sister to top-class sprinter In Her Time (Time Thief).
The winner of the Group 1 Lightning Stakes and Group 1 Galaxy Stakes, In Her Time, was sold to Newgate Bloodstock for $2,000,000 at the 2020 Inglis Chairman's Sale and $2,200,000 at the same sale a year later.
Not covered in 2021, Hot Art foaled a sister to Lempicka on October 1.
Lempicka is the fifth stakes-winner for Woodside Park Stud’s Rich Enuff, which stands for $11,000 in 2023.
