Astara
Kenton Wright Race Images
Promising filly Astara gained a deserved victory at Ellerslie and in the process she credited her sire Dalghar with his first Southern Hemisphere winner.
The Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs-trained two-year-old, who produced encouraging performances at her first two starts, sat outside the leader in Saturday's Ginde Juvenile before asserting her superiority in the run home for rider Sam Collett.
A half-brother to the multiple European Group One winners Daylami and Dalakhani, Dalghar was a Group Two winner who stood his first season at Brighthill Farm in 2012 after a term in France. He has produced three winners from his only Northern Hemisphere crop.
"Astara has showed plenty of promise and was a good second at Te Aroha and then she was a really strong fourth in the Matamata Breeders' Stakes," Brighthill's Nick King said.
"It's great to see the stallion off the mark here and we're really chuffed it's come at a Saturday meeting at Ellerslie.
"The fact that she is raced by Neven Botica is very special. Neven bought Dalghar off the Aga Khan and then retired him to stud in France and while he was there he contacted us about bringing the horse here.
"He's done very well and the buyers really got after them at Karaka where they sold up to $90,000 at K2 and in K3 three of them broke $50,000," King said.
"He will have a lot more runners out in the next month and they will be better at three than two.
"I know Donna and Chris think a fair bit of Astara and they debated whether to go to Awapuni for the Group One, but there was the question of a heavy track.
"She's got the job done at Ellerslie and it's great for Dalghar to get on the board." – NZ Racing Desk.
The Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs-trained two-year-old, who produced encouraging performances at her first two starts, sat outside the leader in Saturday's Ginde Juvenile before asserting her superiority in the run home for rider Sam Collett.
A half-brother to the multiple European Group One winners Daylami and Dalakhani, Dalghar was a Group Two winner who stood his first season at Brighthill Farm in 2012 after a term in France. He has produced three winners from his only Northern Hemisphere crop.
"Astara has showed plenty of promise and was a good second at Te Aroha and then she was a really strong fourth in the Matamata Breeders' Stakes," Brighthill's Nick King said.
"It's great to see the stallion off the mark here and we're really chuffed it's come at a Saturday meeting at Ellerslie.
"The fact that she is raced by Neven Botica is very special. Neven bought Dalghar off the Aga Khan and then retired him to stud in France and while he was there he contacted us about bringing the horse here.
"He's done very well and the buyers really got after them at Karaka where they sold up to $90,000 at K2 and in K3 three of them broke $50,000," King said.
"He will have a lot more runners out in the next month and they will be better at three than two.
"I know Donna and Chris think a fair bit of Astara and they debated whether to go to Awapuni for the Group One, but there was the question of a heavy track.
"She's got the job done at Ellerslie and it's great for Dalghar to get on the board." – NZ Racing Desk.