News

Competition Filly Fontiton Dominant In Inglis Banner

25th Oct 2014

The Robert Smerdon trained filly Fontiton was a dominant winner of the $250,000 RL Inglis Banner to the delight of her owners, which includes the winner of the Inglis / Herald Sun Win a Share in a Racehorse Competition.

Fontiton (Turffontein x Personal Ensign) jumped brilliantly from her inside barrier, sped straight to the front and dashed away into the Moonee Valley straight to a six length victory over Hot Snippety and Braccenby. The time was a slick 58.29 seconds for the lucrative 1000m two-year-old black-type event restricted to Inglis Race Series nominated horses.

Replay of the 2014 Inglis Banner can be viewed HERE

Many top class racehorses such as Starspangledbanner and Mossfun have won on debut in Inglis Race Series events in past years, but none were as dominant as Fontiton today. Trainer Robert Smerdon and part-owner Matthew Cain were simply thrilled with their filly’s performance.

“Wow, that was just amazing, what a win. Robert [Smerdon] has done a tremendous job as we only broke in this horse a couple of months ago,” said Matthew Cain, Managing Director of Matchem Racing.

“This is just terrific, Inglis provide a lot to racing such as $250,000 through this race and the Win a Share in a racehorse competition winner is in this horse.

“For Matchem Racing this is our first runner and first winner for the technology we are adopting, where in conjunction with Robert’s selection process we use DNA analysis to help identify quality racehorses and this is a great start,” added Cain.

Matchem Racing and Robert Smerdon selected and purchased Fontiton from the draft of Blue Gum Farm at the 2014 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale for $110,000. Her happy group of owners include Matthew Cain, Inglis Bloodstock consultant James Price and Vasko Ognenovski, who won his 10% share through the Herald Sun / Inglis Win a Share in a Racehorse Competition.

The future looks bright for Fontiton, which is bred on the same Turffontein / Rubiton cross as Robert Smerdon’s top three-year-old filly Fontein Ruby – also a purchase from Blue Gum Farm's draft at the Inglis Premier Sale.

“That really was awesome. She was in work just to get some early education and development but every time we did something with her she handled it so well we continued on and we’ve ended up at the races without ever expecting her to be an early two-year-old type,” said Smerdon.

“She’s got good height and scope about her for a filly, and we expect her to stretch out to hopefully 1600m. Maybe this time next year she’s a Thousand Guineas filly,” Smerdon predicted.

In addition to the great prize money on offer, Robert Smerdon received a set of Swarovski Optik EL 42 Swarovision binoculars valued at $3,000. The winning jockey Mark Zahra also received an exclusive piece of Antler Luggage valued at $544.

The $5million Inglis Race Series moves to Sale VIC today for the running of the $100,000 Inglis Trophy over 1400m for three-year-olds. The race is restricted to horses nominated into the Inglis Race Series.

For further information on the Inglis Races Series, including all upcoming race dates and entry conditions, please visit www.inglis.com.au/races or email raceseries@inglis.com.au