Toffee Tongue (NZ)
3 f Tavistock – Bagalollies by Zabeel
O: Pinecliff Racing
B: C D Allison, C V & J A Barnao, A R Campbell, T G Heptinstall, T M Pivac & D R Platt
T: Chris Waller
S: New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale – Book 1 V: Highden Park P: Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock, $500,000
W: Australasian Oaks (Gr 1), 2000m, May 2, Morphettville
It is hard to overlook a maiden victory in a Group 1 race, so Toffee Tongue (Tavistock) – arguably Australia’s best maiden before her breakthrough in the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) at Morphettville – earns her spot in this column after she finally found the winners’ circle on Saturday.
In recent years, juveniles aside, Oohood (I Am Invincible) and Preferment (Zabeel) are among the only horses to break their maiden status at Group 1 level when they won the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) respectively. Toffee Tongue now belongs alongside them, having scored her first win – a Group 1 win – at start nine.
Purchased by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock on behalf of Jonathan Munz’s Pinecliff Racing at the Karaka Yearling Sales, the Chris Waller-trained Toffee Tongue had hinted that a win was on the cards after finishing second to Godolphin filly Colette (Hallowed Crown) in both the Adrian Knox Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) and the ATC Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) on her two previous starts.
Ridden in the Group 1 by Damien Thornton, who himself celebrated a maiden win at Group 1 level, she settled handier than usual before starting to overrace. Thornton, though, was able to bring her back underneath him.
The crucial decision came when Thornton stuck to the inside upon straightening rather than searching for space off the fence. She accelerated through, before holding off the late charge of Moonlight Maid (Puissance De Lune) and Affair To Remember (Toronado) to win by three-quarters of a length.
“She’s obviously got a very bright future,” Thornton told RSN927 earlier this week. “She’s a Group 1 winner now. I’m sure she will come back a stronger filly in the spring, who knows what level she can reach.
“You see some fillies win an Oaks and some can progress to a Caulfield Cup if they’re good enough, while some don’t. I think it depends on how they come back after a spell.”
Toffee Tongue is the fourth winner out of the two-time winning Zabeel (Sir Tristam) mare Bagalollies, making her a sister to triple Group 1 scorer and 2015-16 Hong Kong Horse of the Year Werther, as well as New Zealand Cup (Gr 3, 3200m) winner Gobstopper.
Bagalollies is out of the placed Canadian mare Lady’s Night (Ascot Knight) who herself is a half-sister to stakes winner Northern Hilite (Vice Regent). Northern Hilite produced six winners including stakes scorer Strong Credentials (Carson City), the dam of eight-time victor No It Ain’t (Yes It’s True).
Toffee Tongue’s unraced four-year-old sister Candyland, who is believed to be in foal to Pierro (Lonhro), will be offered by Holbrook Thoroughbreds on behalf of owners Bob and Sandra Peters at today’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale. She is catalogued as Lot 32.