Aloisia (NZ) Too Strong in Vase

A filly that could have been bought at Karaka for just $60,000 has developed into one of the standout three-year-olds of the 2017 Melbourne spring carnival.

Aloisia (NZ) (Azamour) upstaged some highly rated fillies in an emphatic Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) victory at Caulfield earlier this month, and on Saturday she confirmed her quality in the Group 2 Drummond Golf Vase (2040m) at Moonee Valley.

Taking on colts and geldings in the A$200,000 three-year-old feature, Aloisia raced away to win by three and a half lengths with Luke Nolen in the saddle.

Aloisia is now the $1.70 favourite for the Group 1 VRC Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 9.

“This was not her grand final, but definitely a very sweet victory on the way through,” trainer Aaron Purcell said on Saturday. “If she pulls up well and has a trouble-free couple of weeks, then she'll be pretty hard to beat in the Oaks.”

Aloisia was bred by Matamata couple Jason and Kelly Price and the latter’s brother Michael Hall. When she was passed in at the 2016 Select Sale, the filly’s breeders retained her to race her themselves.

Trained by Jason Price, she had two New Zealand starts for a fifth and a fast-finishing second, in which she beat the subsequent Group 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas winner Hard Merchandize (NZ) (Burgundy).

Aloisia was then privately sold to an Australian syndicate headed by Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing.