The Group III MRC Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield on Saturday for colts and fillies produced a dominant winner in Big Sky with blueblood filly La Gitana a gallant third on debut.
Prepared by the Lindsay Park team, La Gitana was supposed to make her debut in the Group III MRC Blue Diamond Preview last week against her own sex, but a traffic hold up on the way to the races saw her scratched with connections electing to move on with Plan B.
Taking on the colts, La Gitana raced on the pace for Damian Lane stalking the leader Big Sky and while she couldn’t match his acceleration at the furlong, she stuck to her task to hold third finishing alongside another colt in Invincible Son.
Big Sky is now equal favourite for the Group I MRC Blue Diamond Stakes with Home Affairs colt Guest House.
La Gitana was a $400,000 Inglis Easter purchase for James Bester Bloodstock from Coolmore and is a half-sister to Group III winner Ennis Hill (dam of Group II winner Learning to Fly), promising young stakes-winning sire Acrobat and stakes-winner Lake Geneva, who placed in both a Golden Slipper and a Blue Diamond.
She is the tenth foal to race from fabulous Group winning producer Hips Don’t Lie, whose previous nine foals to race have all won.
Hips Don’t Lie delivered a filly by Wootton Bassett last spring and was then covered by Storm Boy.
La Gitana is the sixth Black Type performer so far for Home Affairs, who very nearly had a new stakes-winner in New Zealand at Ellerslie where Harvey Wallbanger was a very close second in the Group III Colin Jillings Classic.
Home Affairs has 22 entries for the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale starting in Sydney on Sunday week with 15 to follow at Inglis Premier and 17 for Inglis Easter.
