Ciaron’s Star shines in Pierro Plate
Ciaron’s Star (I Am Invincible) and Ciaron Maher go together like a rhyming couplet, and the presumably sizeable space the expensive filly occupies in her trainer’s heart grew only larger at Randwick on Saturday.
Stepping out for her second start after a third over 1000 metres at the same course on January 24, Ciaron’s Star looked impressive in coming away to win the non-black type but nonetheless important two-year-old race, the Pierro Plate (1100m).
Ridden by Tommy Berry, Ciaron’s Star jumped well from gate six of ten, raced outside the leader Better By Far (Farnan), and gained the upper hand over her fellow $5.50 chance in the straight to score by 0.79 lengths.
Persian Wonder (Hello Youmzain) took third, a further 1.2 lengths away at $14, ahead of the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained $2.90 favourite Miss Chanel (Tagaloa).
Ciaron’s Star shortened for the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) at Rosehill on March 21, to the fifth line of betting at $21, and her stable said she would likely earn a shot at the world’s richest two-year-old race, depending on the outcome of another lead-up run.
That next start would put the filly in line to grab black type, either in the Sweet Embrace Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick in two weeks or the Reisling Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at the same track a week later.
“You’ve got a Sweet Embrace [Stakes] in two weeks, a Reisling [Stakes] in three weeks, so we will probably look at one or the other and decide from there,” said Maher’s assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord.
“She is very straightforward. Mentally, very mature. She was very good first-up, naturally she improved from that. She will just keep improving.”
With her win, Ciaron’s Star put herself among her gargantuan stable’s leading two-year-olds, who also include Unit Five (Supido) and the Bennett Racing colt he beat into second in the Magic Millions Gold Coast 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) in Tornado Valley (Too Darn Hot).
Another in the mix is Darby Racing’s Spicy Miss (Trapeze Artist), who ran second in the $1 million Golden Gift (1100m) and the Lonhro Plate (Listed, 1000m).
“We have got a very good group of two-year-olds this year,” Gerard-Dubord said.
“I wouldn’t say there is a stand-out. The two Magic Millions boys, Spicy Miss, and we’ve got a couple more coming out in the next couple of weeks.”
Berry said Ciaron’s Star was progressing in the right way in terms of Golden Slipper calculations.
“Today was all about getting the win to get her close to a Slipper, and she’s got to keep improving the way she has, but she’s heading in the right direction,” said Berry, adding a clean start was crucial in Saturday’s win.
“That’s how these two-year-old races are usually won. They’re won at the start and she executed herself well.”
Bred by Widden, Qatar Bloodstock and associates, Ciaron’s Star was a $650,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Maher and Craig Sneesby. She’s raced by a group headed by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock, while carrying Sneesby’s green with white sleeves and red stars.
Regally bred, she’s the fifth and last foal of the late Listed victor Bonny O’Reilly (O’Reilly), an eight-time winner, dam of the stakes-placed Basquiat (Snitzel), and sister to the dam of elite-level winner Espiona (Extreme Choice).
Third dam Escada (Centaine) was a four-time winner and Group 3 placed and threw two dual Group 1 victors in Glamour Puss (Tale Of The Cat) and Vision And Power (Carnegie).
Ciaron’s Star’s victory gave Yarraman Park’s three-time champion sire I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) 1077 winners from 1329 runners, at 80.96 per cent.