Esternay turns on style at Flemington

Progressive filly Esternay handled a rise in class with aplomb at Flemington where she gave a competitive field of fillies a head start and a sound beating.

Trained for us by Mark Walker, the well-related daughter of All Too Hard had broken her maiden at her third start at her previous appearance at Cranbourne and continued her winning form in fine style.

“It’s great for Brendan and Jo and the whole team at Cambridge Stud, they’ve been very patient with this filly and she was quite impressive,” Walker said.

“She can throw a bit of a tantrum, so we’ve handled her with kid gloves,  and she’s needed time for the penny to drop.”

Esternay drifted well back in the running and was still last as the field thundered for home.

Rider Blake Shinn drew her to the outside halfway down the straight and the three-year-old turned on the after burners to mow down her rivals and win going away by three-quarters of a length.

“She’s got a great turn of foot, I rode her in a jump-out prior to this and she had prepped up well,” Shinn said.

“It was a quality field of fillies, and I was very impressed with her.”

We purchased Esternay out of Vinery Stud’s draft for A$400,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

She is a daughter of the More Than Ready mare Sezanne, who was a dual winner and finished runner-up in both the G1 Flight Stakes and G2 Moonee Valley Fillies’ Classic.

Sezanne boasts a highly decorated pedigree page that features the Group I winners Bonneval, Charmont and siblings St Reims and Champagne.

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