Trainer Garry White rates November Flight as the best horse he has trained but hopes are high for the mare’s three-quarter sister Villa Splendido after the filly’s winning debut at Hawkesbury.
The locally-trained Villa Splendido stepped out as a $10 chance in Saturday’s Hawkesbury Race Club Motel Inglis Bonus 2YO Handicap (1200m) and finished off along the inside to defeat favourite Academus ($3.60) by three-quarters of a length with a long head to Catseye Surprise ($61) third.
White said he would discuss plans with the Villa Splendido’s owner-breeder Graham Mapp but would like to give the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor a spell and aim at the spring.
“Personally I think she’s done a terrific job to get to where she has as quickly as she has and she’s still growing,” White said.
“She’s out of a Zabeel mare and I think she could be the best horse I’ve had for a long while.
“Her mother (November Song) has been terrific to me having trained November Flight and North Dakota who are also out of the mare.”
November Flight won a Millie Fox Stakes and also claimed the Woodlands Crown on the corresponding Hawkesbury meeting in 2007.
Villa Splendido began from the inside barrier with apprentice Sam Clipperton aboard and worked to hold a position on the fence before settling in the box seat.
The run appeared for the filly on straightening and she was able to get the better of Academus who was back in the field and made his run around the outside before chiming in.
“I was actually worried because in her trials she’s never been behind anything and it was a matter of whether she would do everything right,” White said.
“But she’s got a good racing brain and she’s a really nice filly.
“I think as a three-year-old she will only get better.”
Villa Splendido netted the $42,000 first prizemoney plus a $20,000 BOBS bonus but the filly was ineligible for the $50,000 bonus that was on offer for horses nominated in the Inglis Race Series.
