Coming off the back of a dominant Ballarat maiden victory last time out, the Ben, Will and JD Hayes trained Brazen Beau filly Medicinal jumped away the short-priced favourite and never gave her supporters any reason for concern, winning the $200,000 G3 VRC Ottawa Stakes (1000m) at Flemington.
Jumping from the outside gate at the 1000m start down the Flemington straight, jockey Jamie Melham took the filly forward to settle in front with the eight-horse field running down the middle of the track.
With Melham asking for an effort at the 300m mark, the filly started to go through her gears and while the Sydney visitor Scintillation (I Am Invincible) did go with her for a bit, it was clear the Godolphin bred filly had too much of a class edge.
Pulling clear to win by three-quarters of a length, the Grahame Begg trained Ole Kirk filly Jadiza produced a quality effort on debut to work home into second with Scintillation holding on for third, a further length and a quarter off the runner-up.
With Ben Hayes representing the stable post-race, he indicated the stable have a high opinion of the filly.
“You never know - I feel like I say it all the time with horses down the straight, she was professional today, the Ballarat win she did a lot wrong and still won by a big margin,” said Hayes.
“Today she jumped straight to the front, she looked to be really travelling the whole way and just late she was having a bit of a look around but the stable’s always had a very high opinion of her and it’s really nice to get a Group Three for Godolphin, Brazen Beau’s had a lot of luck with them.”
“We ran her in a good race on debut, and she just got a little bit wrong. Again, she built again and she just kept improving in track work.
“If you look at her, she doesn't look like a two-year-old, she's powerful, she's got deep girth, she's really strong.”
“So, I think she's really exciting and we're going to have a bit of a fun discussion with team Godolphin to see where we go next. So hopefully we can head up Sydney way.
With races like the Golden Slipper and the Percy Sykes up in Sydney, the stable feel she would not look out of place.
“I think so. She eats and she does everything right. She's a very straightforward two-year-old and I do think, in an open slipper, this year she'll be right in it and can run very well.
Winning jockey Jamie Melham did feel the filly did a few things wrong, but was adamant that she will only improve off the run.
“She still did a few things wrong, she jumped a lot better today, but she’s got a very sensitive mouth, and she just threw her head a few times, had to probably go a bit quicker than I wanted her to, so she’s done it at both ends down the straight for the first time,” said Melham.
“She’s only going to improve over further in my opinion, they’ve got a pretty high opinion of this filly and I do too, now.”
Having finished sixth, beaten just over three and a half lengths on debut in the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (F) behind eventual G1 Blue Diamond winner Streisand (Magnus), Medicinal has then recorded consecutive wins, highlighting her ability.
Taking her overall record to two wins from three starts with earnings of $175,775, Medicinal is the first and only foal to race to date out of the Hallowed Crown mare Tisane, a half-sister to G1 winner Camarilla, who is in turn the dam of G1 winner Guelph and G2 winner Ghibellines.
From the family of G1 winners Camarena, Bivouac and Sepoy, Tisane has an yearling colt by Blue Point (IRE), foaled a colt by Native trail (GB) in the spring before being covered by Pinatubo (IRE).
The third new stakes winner for Brazen Beau in the last two weeks, the Darley based stallion has taken his record to 30 individual stakes winners led by G1 winners Zapateo, Another Prophet and On The Bubbles.
