Westbury Stud graduate Perfumist (El Roca) has added valuable black type to her record with an emphatic victory in Friday’s A$250,000 Group 3 NZB Tibbie Stakes (1400m) at Newcastle.
The five-year-old mare, trained by Bjorn Baker and ridden by Rachel King, produced a dominant first-up performance, settling just off the speed before angling into the clear approaching the 300-metre mark. Hitting the front inside the final 150 metres, Perfumist drew away to win by 2.6 lengths from Mareth, with Polymnia a further half-length away in third.
The victory provided Perfumist with the first stakes win of her career and, importantly, made her El Roca’s first Australian stakes winner. Stable representative Luke Hilton was delighted with the mare’s performance, revealing that Baker had altered her preparation ahead of her first-up assignment after she had previously failed to produce her best fresh.
“It’s fantastic, Bjorn has done an amazing job. She hasn't had the best first-up record, and he did things differently this time leading in and gave her an exhibition gallop and a couple of good gallops at home, and it paid off,” Hilton said.
“She really set the track alight at the Kenso last week, and it was hard to believe the time she ran, so we always knew she was going well.”
Perfumist has an impressive record of eight wins and four placings from 21 starts, including a runner-up finish in last year’s Group 3 Angst Stakes at Randwick, and her latest victory took her career earnings to A$854,158.
The daughter of El Roca is out of the unraced Swiss Ace mare Tapputi, herself from the highly successful Scent of Joy family which includes Group 1 Golden Slipper winner Polar Success. Perfumist was bred by Gerry Harvey and offered by Westbury Stud at the 2023 NZB Ready to Run Sale, where she was purchased for $190,000 by Bjorn Baker Racing, OTI Racing, Phill Cataldo Bloodstock and Clarke Bloodstock.
Her success is another timely boost for El Roca, who has established himself as one of New Zealand’s most consistent sources of quality racehorses. The son of Fastnet Rock, who stands at Westbury Stud, has already sired Group 1 winners Travelling Light and Romancing The Moon, as well as Group 2 winners including Lucky Patch and Swiss Prince. El Roca finished third on the 2025-26 New Zealand Sires’ Premiership and Perfumist is now his 15th individual stakes winner.
Perfumist’s success also provides an exciting preview of what is to come at the 2026 NZB Ready to Run Sale, with Westbury Stud set to offer her full brother as Lot 66.
The gelding is bred on the same El Roca–Swiss Ace cross that produced Perfumist and Group 2 winner Swiss Prince.
With Perfumist now firmly established as a stakes performer, attention turns to what could be an exciting spring campaign. Hilton indicated that the mare is likely to return to the Angst Stakes before potentially heading towards the A$2 million Big Dance at Randwick in November. Trainer Bjorn Baker has also raised the possibility of tackling the Group 1 Epsom Handicap at Randwick, with Perfumist allocated just 50kg for the big mile.
From a $190,000 Ready to Run graduate to a Group Three winner with more than A$850,000 in earnings, Perfumist is another excellent advertisement for the depth of the Westbury Stud breeding and sales programme — and with her full brother still to come through the 2026 Ready to Run Sale, the family is one to keep a very close eye on.