Sun Stud colour-bearer Macleay came with a barnstorming finish to make a winning debut over 1400 metres at Kembla Grange on Saturday to credit his sire Ready For Victory with his first winner.
Ridden by Adrian Layt for trainer Gerald Ryan, Macleay missed the start by two lengths. He was able to rail up to be fifth on the turn when Layt angled him to the outside to set out after Darby Racing’s Savabeel colt Black Bolt.
The son of Ready For Victory never flinched in the final 100 metres to defeat Black Bolt by a half-length with the Tapit (USA) filly Diorissima a length and a half back in third.
The disappointment of the race was the $950,000 Deep Impact colt Nowitzki (JPN) who started favourite and finished last.
Macleay came under notice at his most recent barrier trial when he charged home from near the tail of the field to be edged out by the talented Spokesman. He was a $70,000 purchase by his trainer out of the Sun Stud draft at the 2019 Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
He is the first foal of the unraced Malibu Moon mare Moon Fighter who is a daughter of multiple stakes-winner Homerette (Grand Slam).
Moon Fighter has been a regular partner of Ready For Victory, visiting the son of More Than Ready in her first four seasons at stud.
A Listed stakes-winner and a luckless fourth in the Golden Slipper at just his second race start, Ready For Victory has had just a handful of runners to date.
Out of a Zabeel half-sister to Champion 2YO Meurice, Ready For Victory stands at Sun Stud at a fee of $6,600.
