Stakes strike for Embellish filly

Progressive filly Hitabell credited her stallion Embellish with his latest black-type success when she proved in a league of her own at Wanganui.

The three-year-old headed south from her Cambridge base for the Listed The O’Leary’s Fillies’ Stakes and produced a top performance to become our resident sire’s third stakes winner.

The Stephen Marsh-trained Hitabell was quickly into stride to cross the field and lead from a wide barrier.

Jockey Courtney Barnes urged her clear into the straight and she held a strong gallop for her second victory from four appearances.

“She pinged the gates and travelled really nicely and kicked very well,” Barnes said.

“We did get a couple of soft sectionals which helped and at the top of the straight I knew she’d be hard to beat.”

Marsh said the G2 Eight Carat Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day was now a likely target.

“She’s a really nice filly. She won very well on debut, then had those couple of runs at Ellerslie and was probably unlucky not to win one of them, and now she’s come out and led all the way in a black-type race.

Hitabell is a daughter of the late Stravinsky mare Anahita, whose last foal is a juvenile filly also by Embellish, and she was a half-sister to the multiple Group 2 winner and Group 1 placegetter Shikoba.

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