A treble of January winners has focussed attention on Darley stallion Epaulette in the run-up to some of Australia and New Zealand’s biggest yearling sales.
Epaulette’s latest successes came in three Australian states with Tropezina winning at Flemington in Victoria, Epaumada at Eagle Farm in Queensland, and Cossetot at Canterbury in New South Wales.
Tropezina’s victory in the A$250,000 Inglis Dash, her third in as many starts this time in, has made her a bargain buy at the A$65,000 paid for her at the Inglis Premier Sale by prominent bloodstock agent James Bester who retains a share in the filly.
Tropezina is out of Boredom (Ad Valorem) whose dam Insouciance produced Godolphin’s G1 winner and Darley sire Complacent (Authorized) and the Stakes winner Ataraxia (Teofilo) among her nine winners from as many to race.
Trainer Henry Dwyer is now aiming at Stakes targets with the three-year-old whose next start could be in the G3 Kevin Hayes Stakes at Caulfield.
"The owners are breeders so it would be great to get some black type with her," said stable representative Maree McEwan.
"She's not overly tall but she's got quite a bit of strength and it was terrific to see her run through the line quite strongly stepping up in distance today."
Epaumada’s Eagle Farm win made her eligible for New Zealand’s richest juvenile race, the Karaka Million, but trainer Tony Gollan has decided to stay at home with the filly who was a $NZ$165,000 purchase at Karaka last year.
Like Tropezina, Epaumada is from a prominent Godolphin family being a half-sister to the Stakes winner Bandipur (Commands).
Epaulette, whose four Stakes winners include the dual-G1 South African winner Soqrat, has 20 yearlings catalogued at next month’s Inglis Classic sale in Sydney and a further 12 at the Inglis Premier sale in Melbourne in March.
