Ersa won’t be carrying colours identifiable with most of the high-achieving members of her family when she makes her debut at Sale on Wednesday, but connections are confident she too can make a racetrack impression.
The three-year-old is a daughter of Lonhro and Erato, which makes her a sister to Blue Diamond winner Lyre and a close relation to Group 1 winners from a Godolphin family that traces back to the Woodlands operation.
Ersa in the care of the Lindsay Park trainers Ben, JD and Will Hayes and will carry Gerry Ryan’s Limerick Lane colours after being purchased for $200,000 at last year’s Inglis Premier Sale.
“She’s got good bloodlines and a very good owner so hopefully it all comes together for us,” JD Hayes said.
“She’s a big, lengthy, scopey filly, so she’s taken a bit more time, but she’s been very well educated.
“We’ve done all that we can at home with her and it’s now time to progress to the next stage and she’s ready to start her racing career.”
Ersa is one of five named-foals from Erato, a daughter of Street Cry and dual Group 1 winner Mnemosyne. First foal Malos (Lonhro) struggled for James Cummings but won is a three-time winner in Northern Queensland, then came Lyre, while third foal Azan (Helmet) never raced.
Erato is a half-sister to Impending (Lonhro) and a full sister to Memorial, who is the dam of Commemorative, a leading fancy for most of the spring’s three-year-old fillies feature races.
Erato was sold through the National Broodmare Sale several months after Lyre won the Blue Diamond in 2019, fetching $1.75 million when sold to Yulong.
At the time she was carrying a Russian Revolution colt who died after birth, returned to Lonhro and produced Ersa before visiting Yulong stallion Alabama Express and producing a filly who sold to Kris Lees and Australian Bloodstock for $350,000 at Magic Millions earlier this year and has been named Phibber.
Ersa has had five Flemington jumpouts in readiness for the debut, three last preparation and two in July, the latest resulting in a dominant on-pace win over 800m on July 21.
She has drawn barrier 13 in the field of 14 and six emergencies, but will come in a few slots after scratchings, and while Hayes has been impressed with her jumpouts he is cautious of the distance of Wednesday’s 1110m event.
“She’s jumped out very nicely and she’s a good one to follow I think, but she might find it a little bit short and she’s got a bit of a tricky barrier,” he said.
“But she’s got class. It’s definitely a run-by-run prognosis with her, but we’re hoping that she ends up in some nice races in the spring.”
