Showtime for sibling

The half-sister to champion mare Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) is set to make her first race day appearance at Warwick Farm on Monday.

Covent Garden (Exceed And Excel) won at the Canterbury Park trials last month and will debut for trainer Chris Waller in the Sky Racing Active Plate. She will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, who has been aboard in all three of her trial outings.

The filly is raced by breeder John Camilleri, of Fairway Thoroughbreds, who also bred Winx and sold her as a yearling at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Reliable Man filly tops sale

Bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo purchased the top lot during the first online session of New Zealand Bloodstock’s annual South Island Sale, which ended on Sunday on Gavelhouse Plus.

Cataldo, who bought four lots during the auction, went to NZ$58,000 on behalf of an Australian client for a Reliable Man (GB) filly out of Lady Zafira (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) from the draft of Canterbury-based vendor Ripple Creek.

“She is a very well-grown, strong and athletic filly,” Cataldo said. “I like Reliable Man, I was involved with the purchase of Kinane at the 2018 Ready to Run Sale. He is a current Group 3 winner in Australia and is going really well, so he definitely appeals to their market.

“I was happy with my purchases and I thought the quality of the stock offered in the sale was good. The vendors did a really good job with their line-up of horses.”

More black type beckons

The James Cummings-trained Aquitaine (Exceed And Excel) will be given the chance to add more Queensland black type to her record.

The filly overcame a wide run to claim the Listed Mick Dittman Plate at Eagle Farm and has fashioned a tidy record of four wins and four placings from her eight appearances.

The Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic at Ipswich later this month is viewed by the stable as another ideal opportunity for Aquitaine.

Hot prospect

Potential West Australian star Showmanship (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}) indicated he was heading right to the top with another comprehensive victory on the weekend.

The gelding sat outside the pace for rider William Pike before easing clear to win effortlessly by 5l over 1400 metres at Belmont on Saturday as he registered his third win from his first four starts.

Showmanship is the younger half-brother of Singapore Gold Cup winner Bahana (NZ) (Elusive City {USA}) and looks to have a promising future after kicking off his latest campaign with a narrow win over 1200 metres at the same venue.

“He never looked comfortable at his last start and looked like he needed more ground,” co-trainer Grant Williams said. “We were a lot more confident going up to 1400 metres although we were respectful toward the others in the race.”

McCarthy honoured

Hall of Fame jockey Darby McCarthy has been announced as one of nine Queensland Greats.

Just a month after he passed away, the trailblazing hoop, who achieved widespread acclaim during a decorated career that took him across the globe, was posthumously honoured by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Now in its 20th year, the awards recognise and celebrate extraordinary achievements and life-time contributions by those who call the Sunshine State home.

In 2004, McCarthy became just the fourth jockey to be inducted into the Queensland Hall of Fame, following in the footsteps of Mick Dittman, George Moore and Neville Sellwood, before being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to racing and his work with Indigenous youth in 2016.

Girl on hot run

Vanna Girl (Husson {Arg}) will be looking to extend her winning sequence to four next Saturday when she tackles the G2 The Roses at Doomben.

The Toby and Trent Edmonds-trained 3-year-old has been in sparkling form with Listed successes in the Daybreak Lover and the Pam O’Neill S. in her last two appearances.

The G2 Matriarch S. during the Melbourne spring carnival is a possible longer-term goal for Vanna Miss.

Riders suspended

Jockeys Michael Cahill and Jim Orman both copped suspensions for their rides in the G1 Stradbroke H. at Eagle Farm.

Cahill was found guilty of causing interference aboard Trekking (Street Cry {Ire}) to Niccanova (Nicconi) and was banned for seven days, starting next Sunday.

Niccanova's rider Orman was suspended for 11 days after pleading guilty to causing interference to Winter Bride (Not A Single Doubt) while Robbie Fradd was fined $500 for excessive use of the whip on winner Tyzone (Written Tycoon).

He’s a star

Stardome (NZ) (Savabeel) picked up his fourth winner’s cheque when successful at Eagle Farm on Saturday over 2200 metres.

The Chris Waller-trained 4-year-old took good form into the race, having placed in his last two starts and Go Racing Syndication Manager Albert Bosma said the biggest concern was the big step-up in distance.

“It was a really good win, but he was stepping up from 1600 metres only 10 days ago,” Bosma said. “The only question mark we had was the jump, we would have preferred to go to 2000 metres.”

Bosma purchased Stardome out of Haunui Farm’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale draft for $135,000 and he was always earmarked to head across the Tasman.

“He was a very athletic horse and was a little bit bigger than average,” Bosma said. “This time last year we were getting him ready for the G1 Queensland Derby. He ran really well at Randwick leading up to the Derby then had one flat run, so we ended up turning him out.”

Benner keen for action

A pair of impressive trial winners at Foxton has Otaki trainer Johno Benner looking forward to the return of racing in the Central Districts next month.

Benner and partner Hollie Wynyard produced progressive winter galloper Happy Star (NZ) (Fabulous {NZ}) to win an open class 1000 metre heat last week while a well-bred Tavistock (NZ) colt also saluted in a maiden catchweight event over the same distance.

“Happy Star won three races last winter and thrives on the wet tracks so he is one that will be ready to resume when racing gets going again,” Benner said.

Bred by Lady Justine and Sir Patrick Hogan, the Tavistock colt is out of G1 New Zealand Oaks runner-up Sursum Corda (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and is closely related to Group 1 winners St. Reims (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) his sister Champagne (NZ) and dual New Zealand Horse of the Year Bonneval (NZ) (Makfi {GB}).

“He is a promising horse that has taken a little bit of time to come to it, but he has a lot of ability,” Benner said.