The third leg of the Darley Princess Series, the Group II ATC Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) at Randwick produced a thrilling tussle between stablemates Zougotcha and Madam Pommery with the former producing plenty of fight under pressure to win by a neck.
Trained by Chris Waller and ridden by James McDonald, Zougotcha won the Group II ATC Silver Shadow Stakes at her first run back from a spell and kept up the good work here taking her overall record to three wins from five starts with prizemoney topping $345,000.
"She doesn't have a lot of condition on her yet and she just came out of a very short spell," Waller said, explaining his decision to bypass the Group II ATC Furious stakes, the second leg of the Darley Princess Series.
"We wanted to look after her as best we could and space her runs as best we could.
"She had to fight today. The stablemate almost took it away.
"She is obviously a quality horse and it was a good step today. She's just all class, it's as simple as that."
Zougotcha heads next to the Group I ATC Flight Stakes over 1600m on October 1, which will be another step up in trip.
"I think she will be fine because she settles so well and she certainly wasn't soft at the end of 1400 (metres) today," Waller said.
"I think on a better track she might even improve too. I wouldn't swap her for anything."
A $500,000 Inglis Easter purchase from the Widden Stud draft for Chris Waller Racing / Mulcaster Bloodstock, Zougotcha runs for a syndicate of stable clients with her breeders Widden Stud and Robert Anderson retaining an interest.
She is a full sister to stakes-winner Persuader and half-sister to stakes-winner The Actuary being the fourth winner from stakes-placed Fast Talker, a half-sister by Fastnet Rock to stakes-winner Crystal Dreamer.
Fast Talker comes from the family of Golden Slipper winner Crystal Lily and was covered last year by Written Tycoon, but has not had a foal since Zougotcha.
Zougotcha is a rising star for Zoustar, who stands at Widden Stud at a fee of $198,000.
