Fontiton (Aus) (Turffontein) stamped her claims for the G1 Blue Diamond S. when stretching her unbeaten record to three in the G2 Blue Diamond Prelude over 1100 meters. The Robert Smerdon trainee settled off the blistering early fractions set by Heatherly (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) and looked slightly unbalanced around the home turn. Jockey Mark Zahra gave her time to find her stride entering the straight and the filly surged clear, scoring by a length and three quarters over Miss Gidget (Aus) (Gonski {Aus}), with the Gai Waterhouse-trained Flamboyant Lass (Aus) (Stratum {Aus}) three-quarters-of-a-length back in third.
Fontiton was tackling 1100 meters for the first time and covered the distance in 1:02.83, while the time for the colts' division was 1:03.66. “To me, she looks like a horse that will be better over further,” Smerdon said. “We hoped she'd be a nice three-year-old that would get out to middle distance but she's doing things we didn't predict.” “We know she's got so much natural ability,” he added, “but for her to be able to be held up for one run is a tremendous asset”.
Fontiton was consigned by Blue Gum Farm at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, where she was knocked down to Matchem Racing for A$110,000, making her the most expensive yearling from the second crop of dual Group 1 winner Turffontein.
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