Sav’s girl Chispa targeting the Gr.1 Oaks

The march toward another elite staying filly may be underway for Waikato Stud’s ten-time NZ Champion Sire Savabeel, whose daughter Chispa delivered a dominant performance at Randwick on Wednesday for the powerful Chris Waller Racing stable.

Bred and raced by Pencarrow Stud in the famed colours of Sir Peter Vela, Chispa continued the rich association between Savabeel and elite middle-distance fillies, surging clear over 1800 metres to score by nearly three lengths under James McDonald.

The lightly raced filly has only stepped out three times this preparation, improving with each outing following a debut second and maiden success at Kembla in February before Wednesday’s impressive metropolitan victory.

Third-up from a spell and tackling 1800 metres for the first time, Chispa relished the rise in distance and finished strongly to stamp herself as a filly on the rise heading toward the Queensland winter carnival.

“She jumped well, got into a reasonable position, then got shuffled back a little bit, so she needed to be good to sort of round them up and finish off, and she sustained it well, so it was good to see all those little factors,” said Chris Waller.

“She’ll join up with some of better fillies now in Queensland. She’s well-bred and it’s good to win in the Vela colours, for Sir Peter Vela and his family as they are very close to James and have been big supporters of him. So hopefully, we can just continue the story a little bit further.

“It’s a long way from the Kensington track to the Oaks, but we’ve had it in our sights for a long time, so she’s peaking at the right time, which means a lot.”

McDonald, who has partnered Chispa in each of her three starts this campaign, believes the Savabeel filly has the pedigree and profile to make her presence felt in stakes company.

“She probably would have almost won the Gold Coast Bracelet (Listed, run last Saturday), if she ran in it,” he said.

“She’s been unlucky, just been getting too far back and having no luck on Rosehill tracks where the rail was out eight metres.

“She’s been building towards today. She’s got a beautiful pedigree, and she’ll stay all day.

“She will relish the 2200m come Oaks time and hopefully she gets there, because she deserves her chance.”

Chispa is another outstanding result for Savabeel from the outstanding Galileo mare Scintillula, herself a Group III winner who was placed at Group I level and finished fourth in both the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks.

Savabeel sits seven stakes winners short of equalling his remarkable sire Zabeel’s stakes winners’ record of 166.