SPELLING PADDOCK FOR TOFANE

Following her heroics in Sydney, culminating in a Group One victory at Randwick on Saturday, Tofane has gone for some well deserved time in the spelling paddock.

Mike Moroney said the four-year-old mare will return again in the spring.

“She’s done a terrific job this preparation and to get the win on Saturday was a just reward as she had been racing so well in elite company.

"We decided after her spring campaign that we would only target Group One races this autumn. I told her owners she would get beaten in a few but I know she will win one.”

Tofane’s last stride victory in the All Aged Stakes was the second in the race in the last four years for Ballymore Stable following the win of Tivaci in the last four years and the 51st win at the elite level for the stables.

“Apart from the win establishing her as a Group One winner in her own right, there are so many people that have played a part in her getting to that stage,” Moroney said.

Tofane was bred by Curraghmore principal Gordon Cunningham and did her initial education in New Zealand at Matamata barn under the care of co-trainer Pam Gerard.

She won an 820m trial at Te Teko before Ballymore Stable clients purchased her from Cunningham and was transferred to the Flemington stable.

“She showed us good ability right from the start but she was a bit keen in everything she did and we had to try to teach her to relax,” Moroney said.

“It wasn’t easy but Pam and the team in New Zealand did a great job in taming her and then we the battle here which I think we are getting on top of.

"Tyler Johnson has been with us for some time and he has done a great job with her in the mornings and then Lily Miller looked after her all that time in Sydney.

“The All Aged was her first time beyond 1200m and the way she finished that off makes me think that she can get a bit further if we can continue to curb her enthusiasm.

“She has such a beautiful pedigree, in fact it’s a middle distance pedigree being by Ocean Park, her dam is by Galileo and a half-sister to two Oaks winners while her third dam User Friendly was an outstanding mare in Europe, winning three Oaks.

“It’s difficult to know how the spring will play out now with the corona virus but she’s still lightly-raced for a four-year-old and if she matures further both physically and mentally then she has so many options - it really is exciting for us as a stable.”

And while Tofane is now on the All Aged honour roll alongside such greats as Sunline, Emancipation and Wenona Girl as female winners of the race, Moroney explained it could all have been so different.

“When we bought her she was unnamed and with the ball tampering fiasco going on with the Aussie cricket team we thought we might call her Sandpaper with her dam called Baggy Green,” Moroney said.

“Unfortunately we weren’t granted that but it’s all worked out in the end.”