With just seven weeks of the new racing season gone, the All Too Hard filly Viva Vienna has certainly made her mark as a three-year-old, posting two wins from two outings and adding a valuable black type victory to her resume when landing the time-honoured New Zealand Bloodstock Canterbury Belle Stakes to her record.
Trained by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson for the Te Akau Empress Of Austria Racing Partnership, Viva Vienna faced off against arch-rival Illicit Dreams in Saturday’s feature and the race was labelled a two-horse race by the TAB, and so it proved with Viva Vienna trailing Illicit Dreams in the early stages of the race before finishing bravely to reel her in with 50 metres to run.
Both Viva Vienna and Illicit Dreams (by Vancouver) were bred by Westbury Stud principal Gerry Harvey and were sold at the Karaka Sales as yearlings. Viva Vienna was purchased by leading syndicator David Ellis for $100,000 and Illicit Dreams by her trainer Kenny Rae for $30,000. Both fillies are now stakes winners and look to have bright futures ahead of them, while their ongoing value as breeding prospects is assured.
Viva Vienna is out of the Snitzel mare Anna of Austria, who has produced 3 horses to the races so far for 3 winners including the stakes placed Divine Inanna. Anna of Austria is an unraced daughter of the stakes winner Cannyanna and is a half-sister to the Listed winner Milestone.
Both fillies look to be on a similar trajectory towards the $500,000 Barneswood Farm NZ 1000 Guineas Gr.1 in November, and judging by their form so far this season, they will be worthy representatives for their stables.