Bargain buy Spicy Martini takes out maiden Group win in Fred Best
Justify (Scat Daddy) filly Spicy Martini (3 f Justify – Extra Olives by Redoute’s Choice) registered her third career stakes success and first at Group level when lunging late to land the Fred Best Classic (Gr 3, 1350m) at Doomben on Wednesday.
The Group 3 sprint was rescheduled after the abandonment of Eagle Farm’s meeting on Saturday after race five and saw a total of 15 runners line up.
Trained by Toby Edmonds and Stephen McLean, Spicy Martini was sent off a $10 chance under Craig Williams and was lifted over the line by her rider, denying Media World (Written Tycoon) by 0.3 lengths.
There was a further 0.2 lengths back to Pisces (Frosted) in third.
Edmonds purchased the three-year-old filly via the 2023 Inglis March (Early) Online Sale out of Coolmore for just $8,000 and she has now earned more than $500,000 in prize-money.
“She’s workmanlike, there’s nothing flash about her at all, she’s honest,” Edmonds said of the filly, who has earned a ballot-exempt spot in the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 14.
“We found her online. We wanted to buy a Justify filly, but they were too dear. They [Coolmore] couldn’t put her through the sale, so she’s just one that got away.
“She’s a filly that’s got quite a few issues and takes a lot of managing but she does well.
“She’s honest, she’s in the Stradbroke now with 49-1/2 [kilos] so I am very keen to run, so long as she pulls up well.”
Winning rider Williams said: “Toby presented her really well with his team. Everyone that’s in this race today had the challenge of being there on Saturday and coming back here today.
“It’s a great initiative by Queensland Racing to make sure they can program it so their horse here is exempt from the ballot for the Stradbroke.
“So Toby and his team have ten days to get her there in good form. She’s a good, tough horse with no weight, makes her own luck. So she’s definitely going there with a realistic chance.”
Bred by Coolmore, Spicy Martini is the fourth winner from as many to race out of the Group 3-placed Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) mare Extra Olives, herself from the family of four-time Group 1-winning champion filly Alinghi (Encosta De Lago).
Extra Olives has a yearling colt and weanling filly both by dual Group 1 winner Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) and is due to foal in the spring to Coolmore shuttler St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni).