Just when Scott Darby through his day couldn’t get any better after bonny filly Within the Law booked her ticket to the Golden Slipper after winning the Group III ATC Sweet Embrace Stakes it did… with tough and consistent sprinter Iowna Merc capturing the Group III ATC Liverpool City Cup (1200m).
Trained by Bjorn Baker and ridden by Josh Parr, Iowna Merc had not finished out of a place in his previous six starts and under inspired riding was able to sneak up a long the fence and poke a whisker in front at the line to snatch a narrow verdict over With Your Blessing with race favourite Gringotts storming home for third.
It was the second stakes win for Iowna Merc taking the overall record for the Winning Rupert gelding to seven wins and 10 placings from 23 starts with prizemoney topping $900,000.
“It is an anxious moment and a bizarre feeling. As a jockey, going back to the inside, you want to make sure you win and if you get beaten by a pimple going back to the inside, it is hard to cop,” Josh Parr said.
"I'm so glad he stuck his head out and got the job done for us.
"His will and the confidence (with which) he's become. He once lacked that and you had to nurture him every step of the way. Now he travels boldly and really lets go. He's an easy horse to ride now that he has grown in confidence."
Iowna Merc is one of five stakes-winners for Written Tycoon stallion Winning Rupert, who now stands in Western Australia at Geisel Park.
Bred by Scott Darby, Iowna Merc is the best of three winners from placed Snitzel mare Mercedes, a half-sister to stakes-winner Divine Centuri. She died in 2023 and her last foal is an unnamed two year-old gelding by Time to Reign.
Interestingly , Iowna Merc is another stakes-winner bred on the Written Tycoon x Snitzel nick which has enjoyed a real surge of success this season producing stakes-winners including G1 winners Private Life and Captured By Love as well as The Playwright, Cannonball, To Cap It All and Sanniya.
