26 Mar 2022Defiant had legitimate excuses when beaten on debut and the Tavistock two-year-old left nothing to chance on her home turf at Riccarton.
Trained by Shane Kennedy and Anna Furlong, our homebred and sold youngster made her first appearance earlier this month at Wingatui where she finished second off a wide run and was also hampered by a slipped saddle.
Defiant again settled wide near the pace under rider Rohan Mudhoo and they got to the front 200 metres from home before surging clear to have 2.3l on her nearest rival.
The filly was purchased out of our 2021 Karaka draft by Kennedy for $20,000 and is from Valee, who has since sadly passed away.
She was by Savabeel and hails from a European family with the second dam a half-sister to the G2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes winner Doctor Freemantle and he later made his way to New Zealand and placed in the G1 Zabeel Classic.
The international Group 1 winners and sires Metal Storm, Raintrap, Sunshack and Polish Summer also all feature in this pedigree.