Sofia Rosa (NZ) Claims Australian Oaks

Star filly Sofia Rosa (NZ) (Makfi) completed a Sydney classic double for New Zealand horses and Karaka graduates when she won the A$1 million Group 1 James Boag’s Premium Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Tavago (NZ) (Tavistock) completed the first leg when he won the Australian Derby the previous weekend, and this time it was Sofia Rosa’s turn in the fillies’ equivalent.

Sofia Rosa had already proven her exceptional quality in New Zealand, earning the title of New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year in a campaign that included victories in the Group 2 Royal Stakes and Group 3 Lowland Stakes. She was first past the post but relegated to second in the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks.

This time Sofia Rosa claimed her Oaks. Overcoming a tough wide run and an outstanding field of the finest fillies in Australasia, Sofia Rosa surged to the lead down the straight, and despite running greenly she held on to win in a tight finish over Ambience (Street Cry) and Believe (Fastnet Rock).

Sofia Rosa is trained in Cambridge by Stephen Marsh for owners JML Bloodstock, managed by Lib Petagna, whose bloodstock agent Bruce Perry bought her for $65,000 at the 2014 Select Sale at Karaka. A daughter of Makfi and the Encosta De Lago mare Bislieri, Sofia Rosa has now earned almost 15 times her purchase price.

“It's a brilliant experience to come here on a big day like this and deliver,” Petagna said.

For Marsh, it was a magnificent reward at the end of a testing campaign plagued by bad luck, a fall and a lot of Sofia Rosa’s waywardness and misbehaviour.

“She still wanted to do everything wrong in the straight, I thought 'oh here we go again',” Marsh said. “But she was good to the line and it's just a huge buzz to win a race like this.

“She's very hard work, but you don't mind when they've got that ability.”