The training partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will send the Sebring filly Wimlah to Randwick on Saturday for her career debut in the valuable Inglis Nursery, the same race contested by Wimlah’s sister Serena Bay 12 months earlier where she was unfortunate enough to run into a superstar in She Will Reign.
Going into that race unbeaten following wins at Kembla Grange and Rosehill, Serena Bay could do no better than fourth in the Inglis Nursery, which was run on a bog track.
Not seen in public for three months, Serena Bay scored at Kembla again before proving her class with a third behind a top-class pair of Fastnet Rock fillies, Shoals and Formality, in the Group II Percy Sykes Stakes at Randwick.
Edinburgh Park Stud’s Ian Smith bred and consigned both Serena Bay and Wimlah to the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Serena Bay made $200,000 to the bid of Gai Waterhouse Racing / J Blaxland at the 2016 sale while Gai Waterhouse / Adrian Bott signed the ticket for $240,000 to secure Wimlah (pictured as a yearling ) at the sale earlier this year.
Significantly, Smith has retained an interest in both.
They are daughters of the Dubai Destination mare Caiguna who was a Listed Stakes winner in Western Australia from 10 starts.
Former Darley shuttler Dubai Destination now plies his trade in Saudi Arabia but his daughters have kept his name in the spotlight producing the likes of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Epsom Derby winner Golden Horn, King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Postponed, Helmet’s Criterium International and Prix Jean Prat hero Thunder Snow, and in Australia the William Reid Stakes winner Silent Sedition.
Caiguna’s dam Bremer Bay (Scenic) went to the post 25 times for six wins. She obviously inherited some of the toughness of her dam All Washed Up (Marooned) who won 11 and placed in 18 of her 73 starts.
Her wins included the Listed WATC WA St Leger over 2600 metres, while All Washed Up’s half-sister Straight No Ice (Whisky Lover) won 14 and placed in 13 of her 65 starts including a career highlight victory in the Listed WATC Goodwood Sprint.
It seems to be a family trait as Straight No Ice had two brothers, All Irish and Irish Jack, who had 11 wins and 19 placings from 76 starts and 9 wins and 10 placings from 50 starts respectively.
It will be the sixth running of the (RL) Inglis Nursery on Saturday and only two farms have shared the spoils to date.
The first two runnings went the way of Vinery stallions Testa Rossa and Mossman, while Arrowfield can claim the last three with Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt and Manhattan Rain (who now stands at Blue Gum Farm).
Arrowfield has a fourth stallion, Smart Missile, who can add his name on the honour roll with the John O’Shea-trained Irish Bet looking to be a leading chance on the strength of an impressive barrier trial win.
The race has thrown up two Golden Slipper winners in its short history, Mossfun and She Will Reign and may have been unlucky not to have claimed a third with Extreme Choice.
But we will be banking on Widden Stud’s flagship stallion Sebring to claim his first win in the race and buoy the spirits of the vendors of the 34 Sebring yearling headed to the Gold Coast Magic Millions, seven at the Inglis Classic and 17 at the Inglis Premier.
