Terilee (AUS)
Terilee (AUS)
3 f Territories – Street Spun by Hard Spun
O: M C Kent, T J Eastwood, Miss M J Luscombe, O F Kelly, Mrs M Wheeler, D Wheeler, Ms L M Abols, M T Redmond, G D Fagan, Mrs T Fagan, R D Pack, L D Keen & B W Young
B: David Brideoake
T: Mick Kent
S: 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale Showcase Session V: Noorilim Park P: K B Bloodstock, $52,500
W: Sportsbet Get On Extra Maiden Plate, 1200m, April 16, Caulfield Heath
Mick Kent looks set for a rewarding Melbourne winter with promising three-year-old filly Terilee (Territories), who registered an easy three-length victory on debut at Caulfield Heath on Wednesday.
Ridden by Craig Williams, the daughter of Territories (Invincible Spirit) comfortably ran down the $2.15 favourite Whateley (Written Tycoon) in the 1200-metre maiden contest, with Nebuchadnezzar (Rageese) 0.4 lengths off the runner-up in third.
While Terilee had shown enough promise for Kent to circle this month’s Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) at Morphettville as a potential target, her debut was delayed due to maturity issues and she will now be aimed at Melbourne’s winter programme for three-year-olds.
“I’ve really liked her all the way through, and I was hoping she would be my Adelaide filly, but we got a bit behind,” the trainer said.
“[She’s] always been able to quicken up in her work, so that’s what we were hoping to do today, I said to Craig [Williams], to ‘just trust her, follow the favourite and she’ll quicken up for you’, and she did.
“There’s a lovely three-year-old program in Melbourne, so we’ll pick our way through the grades and hopefully she can end up winning a Saturday race. I’d like to give her a good three-year-old season, get at least three or four runs into her. She’s only three once and there’s a good program here.
“She’s a miler and on her figures, she’s probably got the capacity to run 2000 metres. But with the speed she’s got and the turn of foot she’s got, a mile is where she’s going to be seen best at.”
A $52,500 purchase for K B Bloodstock out of Noorilim Park’s draft at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale in 2023, Terilee is the first foal out of the multiple winning Hard Spun (Danzig) mare Street Spun, whose dam Street Belle (Street Cry) is a half-sister to stakes winners Shylight (Lago Delight) and Self Sense (Street Sense).