Lucrative Win for Stratum Filly

A part-owner of superstar mare Winx, Richard Treweeke featured as an owner/breeder at Rosehill on Saturday when his homebred Stratum filly Zumbelina won with a leg in the air.

Second on debut at Canterbury back in August to highly rated colt Spirit and Fire, the Chris Waller trained Zumbelina won at her first run back from a spell at Canterbury last month and was a dominant winner against the colts over 1100 metres.

With the $20,000 BOBS bonus, the daughter of Stratum collected a whopping $74,000 for her win – more prizemoney than most Listed races.

Waller said the added financial gain of winning standard Saturday races may take precedence over securing black type, particularly for female gallopers.

“It’s massive. It’s no longer just about black type racing. There’s an incentive to keep winning Saturday races,” Waller said.

“It’s hard to know whether you keep going or whether you save them for a carnival.

“If she were to win a Listed race now and we took her to the Magic Millions broodmare sale for example, she’d make about $300,000.

“But if we took her through the grades there’s potential to win $400,000. If you run a horse in a stakes race too early you won’t win that $400,000.”

Zumbelina is the first winner for minor winning Noverre (USA) mare Ruth’s Secret, who was also raced by Mr Treweeke in partnership with another of the Winx owners in Peter Tighe and his wife.

From the Leica Show branch of the famed ‘Leica’ family featuring Group I winners Pharaoh, Leica Guv and Light Fantastic, Ruth’s Secret has a yearling filly by Hinchinbrook and was covered again by Stratum last year.