It’s been quite a week for Cloughmore Pedigrees. The promising Jimmy Choux filly Chambon won at Whangarei on Wednesday and the durable All In Luck was too strong for his Woodville opponents the following day. Two winners in a week has to be good news but for two exciting horses to win strong races just two days later really makes this a week to remember.
Today’s Ashburton meeting was very much a trial outing for many horses targeting the significant stakemoney offered at the forthcoming NZ Cup carnival. The Ashburton Cup featured southern sensation Stoker’s Rock and a number of other handy milers, including the progressive Iffraaj gelding Maybe Miami – the latter carrying topweight of 6Okg. Stoker’s Rock set the pace but could not hold out the finishing burst of the Kevin Hughes trained Maybe Miami, expertly ridden by Chris Johnson. Provided that the track is not rock hard, Maybe Miami seems to have a real chance of taking out the Couplands Mile.
However, the star of today’s show was undoubtedly the brilliant La Diosa. The imposing daughter of So You Think and the Group 2 winning Star Way mare Star Affair was just too good for an impressive lineup of 1000 and 2000 Guineas hopefuls. La Diosa jumped well but was restrained early as the leaders set a strong pace. Ashburton is a track which has historically favoured on-pace runners but La Diosa made a nonsense of this by coming from last to mow down the classy Heroic Valour and win easing down. It’s no surprise that she is now favourite for the 1000 Guineas and let’s hope she gets reasonable luck on the day to show what she can do over the 1600 trip.
Cloughmore client Terry Archer has an outstanding filly on his hands. He’s also shared our stellar week by breeding Chambon out of his Galileo mare Glam Girl. You have to wonder what the odds are of both fillies making the field for the New Zealand Oaks later in the season.
