By Daithi Harvey
It was a star studded card at Moonee Valley on Friday with four other group races to complement the G1 Moir S. and two of these races were won by the progeny of Yarraman Park stallion I Am Invincible (Aus) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Last year's Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Houtzen (Aus) got the ball rolling for the Champion first season sire of 2013/14 when gaining her first pattern success in the G3 Scarborough S. Her paternal half-sister I Am A Star (Aus) has already landed a top level event when winning the G1 Myer Classic at Flemington last year and she confirmed she retains all her ability with a cosy win in the G2 Zoustar Stocks S. over a mile. Trainer Shane Nichols hopes to target a repeat win in the Myer Classic with I Am A Star and speaking to Racing And Sports he commented, “To come and win today is just terrific. She had been going okay and things were in order and her work had been very good, but you've just got to strike a blow.”
I Am A Star wasn't the only Group 1 winner to emerge victorious on the night as Jon Snow (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}), hero of last season's G1 BMW Australian Derby, confirmed his current well-being with a win in the G3 MSC Signs JRA Cup. Jon Snow is trained in partnership by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and Baker indicated the G1 Caulfield Cup as the winner's ultimate target. “That was pleasing, he's a good stayer,” Baker told Racing And Sports. “We thought he would go a bit better tonight. He needed the distance. It was probably too short for him the past two starts but he's improved a lot in the last couple of weeks,” he added.
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