Tofane bags another Group 1 in Stradbroke

Ocean Park’s top-quality daughter Tofane doubled her Group 1 tally when she returned to winning ways in the Stradbroke H. at Eagle Farm this afternoon.

The mare overcame adversity to add Queensland’s flagship event to her record after first breaking through at the top level in last season’s All Aged S.

Since then, Tofane was struck by two significant health issues, but trainer Michael Moroney had been buoyed by her lead-up to the Stradbroke when she finished second under 60kg in the G3 BTC Sprint.

“I was pretty confident she was back to her best and I thought her best run, other than the All Aged, was at her last start. It would have been a weight-carrying record for a mare had she won it,” he said.

“She probably would have won if she had been able to take the short cuts, but she was shoved off the track so I knew she was back.”

Following her All Aged S. victory, Tofane was set for The Everest, but didn’t pull up well after finishing ninth and was subsequently listed in the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale catalogue.

“The only reason she was in the Sale was that she had a couple of setbacks. After she disappointed in The Everest, Tommy Berry said that she pulled up making a noise,” Moroney said.

“We had her scoped and she displaced the soft palate so we had to do a little operation with laser treatment.”

The surgery was successful, but Tofane was then laid low by another health problem.

“We got her through that and she then got really crook and was at Werribee for a week. She got a bad kidney infection,” Moroney said.

“For those reasons, she was behind the eight ball so we threw her in the Sale and I agreed with the owners to do that. I said give me one run with her, which was her previous start and she was back.

“Our vets did a great job with her and all the staff to get her back, it’s been a great team effort from everyone at the stable.”

Tofane came off a midfield sit with an irresistible finishing run under Craig Williams to claim Stradbroke honours and may have one more outing before a spell.

“We’ll see how she is and there is a chance she will run up there again in the G1 Tatt’s Tiara. That may be her last run, she’ll either go there or to the paddock,” Moroney said.