Emerging filly Aeliana has a Group One assignment in her sights after kicking off the Melbourne Cup Carnival with a dominant performance in the A$500,000 Gr.3 Channel 9 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.
The opening race on Saturday’s Derby Day card was the second consecutive black-type win for Aeliana, who headed to Melbourne as a last-start winner of the Gr.3 Reginald Allen Quality (1400m) at Randwick.
The Carbine Club Stakes was a significant step up in class for the lightly raced filly, who switched from her own sex to take on a classy field of open three-year-olds. But the Chris Waller-trained Aeliana was well and truly up to the task.
After dropping back to last in the hands of jockey James McDonald, Aelina came to the outside in the home straight and unleashed a scintillating turn of foot.
Aeliana roared to the lead and careered away from her six rivals, opening up a winning margin of three and a half lengths. Another Prophet finished second, with last-start Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) runner-up Feroce third.
“Brilliant performance,” McDonald said. “She’s a promising filly. She executed well and came with a well-timed run, and she was too good.
“She actually sprung the lids beautifully, so she could have easily taken up a more prominent position. But I took her back and then chimed in after turning for home, and she was way too good.
“I think she’s a very good filly. She presented like a winner. I saw the favourite (Feroce) get a perfect spot with cover, but he was coming off a peak performance and probably didn’t run as well as he could, but my filly’s been on an upward spiral. I don’t think it would’ve mattered where I was in the race.”
Aeliana has now had five starts for three wins, earning A$487,275.
The Star Thoroughbreds-owned filly is now in line for a shot at the Gr.1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on November 16.
“She’s a talented filly,” Waller said. “She won well in Sydney last start, and she’s brought that Sydney form to Melbourne.
“The Thousand Guineas is a Group One for her own sex. She’s beaten the boys today, so she’ll go back to the girls next start. It's all part of a process to try and get a horse up in the grade each time they race, and she's made that right step forward today.”
Aeliana was bred by Nearco Stud and Rich Hill Thoroughbreds and is by Arrowfield Stud stallion Castelvecchio out of the Star Witness mare Temolie.
Aeliana is the first foal to race out of Temolie, who was herself a placegetter on the racetrack and is a half-sister to Group One winner Invincibella, Group Three winner Secret Blaze and Listed winner Extreme Flight.
Rich Hill Stud bought Temolie for A$200,000 from the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast, when she was carrying Aeliana.
Temolie has been served by Rich Hill’s resident superstar sire Proisir every spring since then, producing filly foals in 2022 and 2023. A yearling half-sister to Aeliana was bought by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock and TFI for $250,000 at Karaka earlier this year.
The Carbine Club Stakes was a bonus eligible race for the NZB Kiwi (1500m), which will be run at Ellerslie on March 8. Winners of bonus eligible races can compete for a bonus pool of $1 million in the NZB Kiwi, which is on top of the NZB Kiwi’s base prize-money of $3.5 million.