Four-year-old Mo'unga landed the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m) at Randwick yesterday, upstaging eight-time Group 1 winner Verry Elleegant in a Kiwi-bred quinella, in what was a blanket finish to the first elite level contest of the season.
Mo'unga had provided trainer Annabel Neasham with the first Group 1 winof her career when taking out the Rosehill Guineas (2000m) as an autumn three-year-old.
Ridden by Tommy Berry, Mo'unga stalked Verry Elleegant then peeled off her back and outmuscled the mare in the fight to the line to get the decision by a half-neck.
She's Ideel, a Karaka graduate of Lyndhurst Farm's draft, flashed home from last to grab third in an eye-catching performance.
"He looked the winner a long, long way out. He came up outside Verry Elleegant and I knew he was going to be in for a tough battle as she's such a fighter as well," Neasham said.
"He's improved a hell of a lot from a three-year-old to a four-year-old."
Neasham will let the dust settle before determining what path she follows with Mo'unga this spring. She also has early Cox Plate favourite Zaaki nearing a return.
Verry Elleegant's jockey James McDonald said the mare lost nothing in defeat. "She tried hard," he said.
●Kiwi import Atishu won the Darwin Turf Club Trophy (1400m) at her first start across the Tasman.
The Go Racing-owned four-year-old has transferred from Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh to Sydney-based Kiwi Chris Waller, having won four of her nine starts in New Zealand, culminating in Listed wins in the Airfreight Stakes (1600m) and Warstep Stakes (2000m) at Riccarton.
"She was sent over to us in tremendous condition by Stephen Marsh, who has done a great job with her," Waller said. NZ Racing Desk
