Sakura Girl notched her first Stakes-race victory and continued the great run of success for her sire Iffraaj when she won the G3 Sunline Vase over 2,100m at Te Rapa in New Zealand on Saturday, 4 March.
The three-year-old filly, out of the New Zealand mare Soltina, led most of the way to beat Sedaka by 1.5 lengths with Marvelouz another half-length further away.
Second to Prowess in the G2 Ellis Fillies Classic (2,000m) at Te Rapa on February 11, Sakura Girl (Kozzi Asano) improved her record to two wins and one placing from five starts for Cambridge trainer Ben Foote.
Sakura Girl was bred by D and R Moore and offered at the 2021 NZB Ready To Run Sale by Riverrock Farm. The filly was purchased by Upper Bloodstock for NZ$260,000.
Perfect Scenario, Goldie’s Chance and Humbucker - all by Iffraaj - have won Stakes races in New Zealand in the past eight weeks.
Sakura Girl was the 92nd Stakes race winner worldwide for Iffraaj, who won seven races and was placed twice from just 13 starts.
The Darley stallion has sired 1105 winners of 3119 races worth more than 54 million pounds.
Iffraaj has 11 winners at the highest level, including the four-time G1 victor Ribchester, Jungle Cat, Jon Snow, Western Empire and emerging young sire Wootton Bassett.
The Sunline Vase (Gr 3, 2100m) goes the way of SAKURA GIRL (3 f ex Soltina by O'Reilly), a filly by @HaunuiFarm's IFFRAAJ (Zafonic).
— ANZ Bloodstock (@anz_news) March 4, 2023
She was a $260k Upper Bloodstock buy from the draft of @Riverrock_NZ at @KarakaChat 🌟pic.twitter.com/ymzeZxgh0o
