Having become the first G1 winner for her sire Kermadec a week earlier in the Flight Stakes, Montefilia has become his second win at the top level in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick.
And she could now attempt to add a third in Australia’s premier weight-for-age race, the WS Cox Plate.
Montefilia proved too strong, too tough and too classy for her male rivals, getting over the top of Lion’s Roar in the final 100m to win by three-quarters of a length.
She becomes the first horse to win the Flight Stakes, Champion Stakes double.
One of the best milers of his generation, Kermadec, a son of Teofilo, scored his biggest wins at Randwick in the G1 Doncaster Handicap and the G1 George Main Stakes.
Montefilia, a member of his first crop, is the fourth foal of Shirocco mare Bana Wu and was initially sold at auction as a weanling for $62,000.
She later went through the ring again as a yearling, selling for $130,000 to her trainer David Payne and has since been the subject of a seven-figure offer.
Payne described the filly as “a trainer’s dream” after her Champion Stakes victory and while he is inclined to now put her away for next autumn, he could give consideration to a Cox Plate start at Moonee Valley later this month.
“We’ll have a look at the race in Melbourne,” Payne said.
“But I’m sure she’ll be even better next year.”
Kermadec is standing the current southern hemisphere breeding season at Kelvinside, NSW at a fee of $13,750, including GST.
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