Mark Newnham is confident he has a future black-type contender on his hands in the impressive Hawkesbury debutante Silvakia.
The Randwick trainer’s expectations were met and surpassed by the Westbury Stud home-bred’s front-running victory over 1300 metres on Sunday and is excited about her future in stronger company.
The Reliable Man two-year-old’s win at the first time of asking was a performance full of merit as she not only overcame the outside gate, but also accounted for older opposition.
“She went terrific and it’s not an easy thing to do to use a bit of petrol early and then show such a good kick in the straight,” Newnham said.
“I really think she is going to be a stakes class filly in the autumn, she is coming on in leaps and bounds.”
Silvakia had placed in both of her barrier trials ahead of her first outing and Newnham will decide in the near future if she appears one more time before a break.
“I’ll give her a few more days in the stable and then make a call on that,” he said.
“She has showed good ability all the way through and has a really nice temperament, I couldn’t be any happier with her. She’s really straight forward and she is going to continue to improve.”
Newnham purchased Silvakia for $80,000 out of Westbury Stud’s draft to New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale in 2021.
The filly is the first winner for the Encosta De Lago mare Slovakian, who is a grand-daughter of the multiple Group 1 placegetter Zastov and the immediate family of stakes winners Confrontational and Madam Stravinsky.
Slovakian has a yearling filly by Redwood and last season produced a sister to Silvakia, who continued an excellent run of form for Reliable Man as he also sired Rosehill winner Lord Ardmore and Count One Me, who broke his maiden at Hawkesbury for John O’Shea.
Seven-figure purses are firmly on the agenda for the Chris Waller-trained Lord Ardmore (by Reliable Man), who effortlessly ran his rivals into the deck over 1800 metres on Saturday.
The four-year-old was second-up after finishing runner-up when resuming and he bowled along in front and surged clear in the run home under Hugh Bowman to score with plenty in hand.
“Lord Ardmore is a horse that likes to get on with it in his races,’’ Waller said. “He was very strong through the line, he’s a decent horse with a bright future.
“He had a great preparation last time in, we gave him a long spell and he looks to have come back really well.
“We are looking at some of these new races in the spring like The Big Dance and Five Diamonds, they are massive new races that everyone is talking about.’’
The Big Dance will be run for a A$2 million stake over 1600 metres at Randwick on November 1 and the Five Diamonds will be contested for an identical stake over 1800 metres at Rosehill four days later.
Bred by The Oaks Stud, Lord Ardmore was purchased by Go Racing at Karaka for $65,000 and has now had won four of his 18 starts with earnings in excess of A$350,000.
He began his career with the now retired Stephen McKee and was a maiden winner before he ran fourth in both the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas and G2 Avondale Guineas.
Also sporting the Go Racing colours, Count On Me was an $80,000 Ready to Run Sale buy out of Phoenix Park’s draft and is a son of the North American stakes winner Canyon Yodeler.
Count On Me had finished runner-up at his three previous appearances before a thoroughly deserved breakthrough over 1800 metres.