Making his debut in a large field of two-year-olds at Moonee Valley, Ad Valorem gelding Pied A Terre gave his first-season sire his sixth winner, taking him to equal third on individual winners and second on overall prize money on the Australian First-Season Sire table.
Jumping from a wide barrier, the Peter Snowden-trained gelding travelled slightly wide in the run, but as the field turned for home jockey Dean Yendall gave Pied A Terre his head and he worked around the leading duo to take the lead and record a length victory.
Bred by Darley Australia, Pied A Terre is a out of the winning Grand Lodge mare Masonette, a half-sister to G3 winner Graceful Encounter. Masonette has a Commands yearling filly named Izba, a Strategic weanling filly and is currently in foal to Exceed And Excel, the sire if 20 individual two-year-old winners so far this season.
Being the only first-season sire to have two individual Stakes winners, Ad Valorem has been enjoying a stellar season with his first-crop of southern hemisphere runners. Highlighted by the G2-winning Free Wheeling and the G3-winning, G1-performer Uate, Ad Valorem will stand the forthcoming season at Darley Kelvinside at a fee of $11,000 (inc GST).
