The two year-old maiden over 1400m at Hawkesbury on Tuesday had a heavily backed favourite in Tassort colt Sacred Fort, but he came up short finishing second to a first starter by Castelvecchio.
Trained by Annabel Neasham and ridden by Chad Schofield, Verona’s Cleopatra had two recent trials in preparation for her debut and showed natural pace to settle with the leaders and then when she wanted to race keenly was allowed to slide to the front.
Verona’s Cleopatra relaxed after that and gave a good kick to the line, holding off Sacred Fort to win by a length in a good performance for a first starter over 1400m.
Retained to race by her breeder Malcolm Russell, Verona’s Cleopatra is the sixth winner from six foals to race from terrific producer Cleo’s Raine, an unraced three-quarter sister by Redoute’s Choice to Group III winner Egyptian Symbol from Group I winner Our Egyptian Raine.
She is the second winner from 16 starters for Castelvecchio, who is also the sire of stakes-placed El Castello.
The dual Group I winning son of Dundeel stands at Arrowfield Stud at the fee of $22,000.
