Esha stamps her class at The Valley
High–priced filly Esha (Extreme Choice) looked a stakes winner in waiting by leading throughout to power to victory over a smart field of new three-year-olds at The Valley on Saturday.
Resuming from a debut 3.4-length romp at Morphettville in May, the Shane Nichols-trained daughter of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) bounded to the front from gate four under Damian Lane in the 1000-metre handicap, and after absorbing some early pressure from stakes-placed colt Bacash (Cosmic Force), powered away in the straight to score by 3.5 lengths.
Starting a $2.15 favourite, Esha beat Team Yargi’s $41 shot Petite Artiste (Earthlight) into second, with Ciaron Maher’s Oyster Lane (Blue Point) another 0.3 lengths adrift in third at $4.40.
A $900,000 Gold Coast purchase for Nichols and Kia Ora Stud—which now races her in tandem with Matthew Sandblom’s Hollymount Stud—Esha is the third foal out of I Am A Star (I Am Invincible), who won nine stakes races for Nichols, all at Group level and headed by the 2016 Myer Classic (Gr 1, 1600m).
Mornington-based Nichols previously paid $800,000 for I Am A Star’s first foal Orion The Hunter (Deep Field), who won five restricted races before a transfer to Darwin.
The outstanding mare’s second foal I Am A Rockstar (Fastnet Rock) was a $400,000 buy for Waterhouse-Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds, but has ended up in Canberra as a seven-start maiden.
Nichols and company appear to have profited far better through I Am A Star’s union with Newgate Farm’s Extreme Choice, with Esha now having twice taken on the males and given them a sound beating.
A delighted Nichols said the filly would now target black type races in the spring. The first of those might involve a trip to Sydney for Randwick’s Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) on August 23, with Nichols eager to give his potential star as broad a range of experiences as possible.
“It’s a long spring ahead,” Nichols told Racing.com.
“There’s a lot of opportunities for a three-year-old filly who’s sharp. I’m mindful of the fact that if we do win a fillies’ stakes race we get penalties; we might have to race against the boys.
“I’d also like to have a look at the [Flemington] straight. There’s a whole lot of things I’d like to cram into a period. Getting it right is the tricky bit but I think we’ve got the ingredients of a very nice filly going forward.”
Nichols’ desire for Flemington straight experience is an obvious pointer towards the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on Derby Day. Following Saturday’s victory, bookmakers wound Esha into the fourth line of betting at $11 for that race.
Esha was also made an $8 equal-fourth favourite for the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) at Moonee Valley on September 6.
“We’ll go stakes racing now. Potentially she could go to the Silver Shadow in Sydney in two weeks,” said Nichols, delighted with Esha’s first look at The Valley.
“When Bacash was niggling up outside her just to stay in touch early, I thought we were in a pretty good position.
“She was able to come back underneath him and then quickened up like we’ve seen in her trials, and like we saw in Adelaide.
“When [races] are short, you want them to do what they’re supposed to, and she did what she was supposed to do. It was a nice gallop and hopefully we’re setting up for a nice spring.”
Nichols’ ebullience was echoed by Lane, who said he was keen to stick with Esha for the spring.
“It was great. She was very professional, she knows her job very well,” the winning rider said.
“She left the gates sharp, and was able to control the race from the outset. She never really felt like losing, so a really promising return.
“I was able to nurse her through the middle stages, which was great. By the sounds, she’s not going to be a one-trick pony—she settles lovely in her work. That’ll hold her in good stead going forward.
“She’s pretty forward. She’s up and going at the right time. The early part of he spring might be a really good time for her to see some nice races.”
Esha’s full sister sold to Anthony Cummings Thoroughbreds, also from the Newgate draft, at Magic Millions Gold Coast this year for $400,000.
I Am A Star had two more successful covers from Extreme Choice after bearing Esha, and now has two-year-old and yearling full sisters to the filly. The mare was covered for a fourth straight time by Extreme Choice last spring, but missed.
Extreme Choice is off to a flyer this season, with five winners from 11 runners. He has 90 winners from 134 runners worldwide at 67 per cent, and 14 stakes winners at 10.4 per cent. He is standing at Newgate for a fee of $330,000 (inc GST), up from $275,000 in 2024.