A beaten favourite at Pakenham when second at her only start at two, the Graeme Begg-trained Grunt filly Miraval Rose made no mistake at her 3-year-old bow over 1115m at Kyneton on Tuesday.
Once again carrying the weight of expectations from the punters, Miraval Rose looked like a filly with a future when defeating the Extreme Choice filly Extremely Rowdy by two and three-quarter lengths with the Fastnet Rock filly Favanna a further one-and-a-quarter lengths back in third.
“She’s a beautiful filly, we have always liked her, Begg’s Racing Manager Rohan Hughes said.
“She has a great brain, a real natural racehorse brain. It was great to see her relax in behind like that. She travelled beautifully to the turn, and he had a lot of horse, so when the gaps came, she was explosive.
”She was still a bit green when she got to the front, but it’s all a learning curve, and that experience will be fantastic for her.
Miraval Rose was the only ride on the day for Damian Lane.
“I must thank Graeme and Rohan because they said she would be worth it, and she was,” Lane said.
“She was always travelling well, but took a couple of strides when I got out as she was a little unbalanced for a few strides and being green took a little bit to pick up, but once she did, she was good through the line.”
A half-sister to the Group II Moonee Valley Fillies Classic winner and Group 1 ATC Queen of the Turf Stakes runner-up Gypsy Diamond, Miraval Rose was a $250,000 purchase for Rohan Hughes/Graeme Begg Racing from the Yulong Stud draft at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
She is the fourth winner from five to race for the Zabeel mare Gypsy Tucker a half-sister to the dam of the Group III VRC Maribyrnong Plate and MRC Showdown Stakes winner Finance Tycoon.
Yulong purchased Gypsy Tucker, in foal to Snitzel, for $800,000 at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in 2018, then signed the ticket for $1.3 million for her daughter Gypsy Diamond (Not A Single Doubt).
Gypsy Tucker has a 2-year-old sister to Miraval Rose. After not being covered in 2021, Gypsy Tucker foaled a Lucky Vega colt this spring and was covered by him again.
Miraval Rose is the sixth winner of the season for Grunt whose son Veight has started the season in style winning the Group III McNeil Stakes at Caulfield and was runner-up to Griff in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas.
