Lucrative Maiden Win for Zousain Filly

For many racehorses the only race they will ever win is their maiden and Inglis have spread the money into this very important area with their Xtra Bonus Series and two $50,000 bonuses went off at the always popular Snake Gully Cup meeting at Gundagai on Friday to the great delight of connections of Essay and Southern Grace.

The Inglis Xtra bonus is usually $100,000, but there was such a huge response to the selected maiden race at this meeting it was decided to run two divisions and split the bonus accordingly.

Three year-old Zousain filly Essay was having her third race start for the Richard Collett stable and was resuming from a spell in the 1180m maiden.

Sent off favourite, Essay enjoyed a soft run on the fence for Andrew Calder after jumping from gate one and hit the line hard when she found clear running to win by three-quarters of a length.

With  first prizemoney of $22,000, plus the $50,000 Inglis bonus, plus the $5625 BOBS bonus it was a great pay day for her owners.

A $100,000 Inglis Classic purchase for her trainer from the Vinery Stud draft, Essay is the first foal of unraced Written Tycoon mare Written Star, who comes from the family of champion sire Zoustar.