Viadana Books Ticket to Sydney with Gr.1 Win
7 April 2014
Brilliant mare Viadana (NZ) (Towkay) showed she is top class with a resounding victory in the Group 1 $200,000 Fibre Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Te Aroha on Saturday.
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Viadana (NZ) successful in the Group 1 Fibre Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes. |
The victory was the third Group 1 of the six-year-old mare’s career and second this campaign following success in the Group 1 NRM Sprint earlier this year at Te Rapa. She has now booked herself a ticket to Sydney to compete in the Group 1 Queen of the Turf Stakes for trainer Lance Noble.
“She is booked on a flight to go to Sydney to race in the Group 1 Queen of the Turf Stakes which is for fillies and mares and worth $1m,” commented Noble. “She is a great mare and is racing at the top of her game so this is a good opportunity to take her over there and see how she goes.
“There are some very good fillies and mares in Australia but the likes of Silent Achiever has shown that the higher rated horses in New Zealand are capable of competing against them. She can’t really do anything more here in New Zealand so it is time go over.”
The Karaka Select Sale graduate has been in outstanding form this season, never finishing further back than fourth in her eight starts including a victory in the Group 2 Japan New Zealand International Trophy last start.
Starting as race-favourite, Viadana settled mid-field for rider Craig Grylls behind second favourite Recite (NZ) (Darci Brahma). Grylls tracked Recite into the straight and when he asked his mare to sprint she exploded to the front for a comprehensive two-length victory.
“It was a super performance and we are over the moon,” commented Noble. “I was taken away with her win last start at Tauranga carrying 59kgs and to come out and win a Group 1 is fantastic. She never really wins by a big margin so to win by two-lengths showed how impressive she was.
“We are very fortunate to get good horses like her and she just gets better and better with age.
“Her pedigree keeps getting enhanced, she is also related to Singing Star, the dam of Miss Selby. She is a very valuable mare and will be worth a lot when she retires. After Australia we will sit down and assess whether we race on for another season. She is lightly tried for a six-year-old having only 29 starts.”
Saturday’s victory was the 11th win from 29 starts for Viadana for prizemoney of $685,325 for a large group of owners in the Easdon No. 4 Racing Syndicate, managed by Noble’s wife Leigh.
Lance and Leigh Noble purchased Viadana at the 2009 Karaka Select Sale for a bargain price of $25,000 from Little Avondale Stud.
Bred by Little Avondale Trust, Viadana is out of Yeah Nah (Kinjite), a half-sister to Group 2 Waikato Gold Cup winner Singing Star (Danasinga) who is the dam of Group 1 NZ Oaks runner-up Miss Selby (O’Reilly).