Following a luckless second to Montserrat when making her career debut at Warwick Farm on October 16, the Fastnet Rock filly Harto left that filly in her wake with a milestone maiden win over 1100 metres at Gosford on Thursday.
The third leg of a 4-timer for James McDonald, the Chris Waller-trained filly defeated Longbottom (Sidestep) by two lengths with Nordic Lover (AL Maher) a length and a half back in third.
A homebred for John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill, Harto is the second of three foals left by Singleton’s Group II AJC Furious Stakes and Group II STC Tea Rose Stakes winner More Strawberries (More Than Ready (USA) who died in July this year.
Placed in the Group 1 Golden Slipper and Group 1 Flight Stakes, More Strawberries banked $843,200 from a record of 4 wins, 3 seconds and 2 thirds from 19 starts.
Her first date was with the world champion Frankel and the result of that union was Merovee who was purchased by Chris Waller for $1.6 million at the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
After showing early promise including a stakes placing when runner-up in the Group III Spring Stakes at Newcastle, Merovee continued to race consistently without ever threatening to earn his purchase price back and was sold at the Gold Coast earlier this year for $20,000.
More Strawberries was a half-sister to the Group 1 VRC Emirates Stakes winner and successful sire All American out of the imported Strawberry Road mare Milva (USA) a half-sister to the crack racehorse and successful sire Rock Hard Ten (Kris S).
The final foal of More Strawberries is a 2yo Fastnet Rock colt named Cream Rises.
