Marabi Remains Undefeated With Oakleigh Plate Victory

Marabi stamped herself as the queen of Australia's sprinting ranks, landing her first top-level race in the Feb. 26 Oakleigh Plate (G1) and in doing so put herself firmly in the mix for the Newmarket Handicap (G1) at Flemington in two weeks.

Only once since the race's inception in 1884 had an Oakleigh Plate winner been undefeated at the time of their victory, that being Harpagus in 1982. However, that tally has doubled after Marabi took her record to seven from seven, a meteoric rise in a short time, with Saturday's win coming barely a year after she took a Pakenham maiden to kick off her career.

We are so proud of our girls in the Oakleigh Plate today. Marabi was so special & a huge congratulations to Owner/Breeder Greg Perry and super ride from Ben Allen! Huge team effort & to get the quinella with Away Game was just icing on the cake. What a day. pic.twitter.com/IVceinEfLK

— Ciaron Maher Racing (@cmaherracing) February 26, 2022

Only tested against stakes company for the first time on Boxing Day when the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace mare took out the Nick Johnstone Real Estate Christmas Stakes, Marabi stepped up to land the MA Services Group Australia Stakes (G2) at Moonee Valley last time out before adding the cherry on top in the Oakleigh Plate.

"Marabi, God, fantastic," Maher said. "Greg Perry puts a lot into breeding and he's got a lot of mares and just loves his racing. He's very patient and very easy to train for so it's great to get rewarded with a horse like this."

It capped a fairy tale result for young rider Ben Allen, scoring his first group 1 win after weeks of hard work to get his weight down to 54 kilograms. It was his deft touch, too, that may have proved the difference as he allowed Marabi to track the hot tempo set by Malkovich before allowing his mount to inch ever so much closer on the point of the turn.

Pushing the button upon straightening, he opened up enough of a break on the field to ensure that he could not be reeled in.

"It's unreal, I can't explain it," an excitable Allen said. "I probably went a little bit early on her but she's a mare that can sustain that gallop and I thought I'd use that to my advantage.

"Doing the form, I knew it would pan out like that. It's an Oakleigh Plate and that's just what you get. She's got the class and the quality to overcome that."

It was a Maher and Eustace quinella with hardy mare Away Game filling second, a half-length behind the winner, while the Peter Moody-trained Oxley Road finished off well for third, a further length and a half away.

Moody knows plenty about unbeaten mares heading to the Newmarket, having won the world's premier sprinting handicap in 2011 with Black Caviar , but this time he might be the hunter rather than the hunted with Oxley Road potentially set to tackle Marabi again.

"I suppose the pressure builds every start now but it's a good problem to have," Maher said. "She is a fantastic mare and we'll just let the dust settle. This was the target and we'll go from here."

Bred by Greg Perry under his Greenwich Stud banner, Marabi, by I Am Invincible , is the fourth foal out of group 2-stakes winner Nakaaya (Tiger Hill).

Remarkably, from five foals to race, she has produced the winners of both an Oakleigh Plate and a Kennedy VRC Oaks (G1), with her first foal being Aristia.

Nakaaya has an unraced Flying Artie filly named Siteki in training with Cliff Brown. She was the mare's final foal before her death at the age of 14 in Sept. 2020.

In a day for the mares, Neds Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (G1) winner Sierra Sue added a second group 1 win at the Caulfield 1400 meters by taking out the Futurity Stakes (G1) Saturday.

Prepared by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, Sierra Sue improved off a fair fourth in the CF Orr Stakes (G1) earlier this month, kicking clear under John Allen to take the feature by a length and a quarter.

Mo'unga produced one of the runs of the day, flashing home to finish a length and a quarter away in second, while Orr winner Tofane ran a typically honest race in third, two lengths behind Sierra Sue.

"This is unbelievable, honestly," Young said. "The way the track was playing, we were a little worried because she generally likes to get back a little bit, but we had that barrier one and I said to John, 'Look, don't get off that rail, wait, wait, wait, she's got a 250 meter sprint.' It panned out perfectly.

"She might have needed that first run a little bit, we didn't have her tuned up. But today she paraded fantastic, she looked super and now she's a multiple group 1 winner and she's a valuable mare. A Darci Brahma from New Zealand, so flying the flag for the Kiwi breeders."

Her win in the Futurity Stakes guarantees her one of five wildcards for the AUS$5 million All-Star Mile at Flemington next month, but Young says there are plenty of options for a mare of her caliber.

"We will have to have a think about it," she said. "I think she is better at the 1400 meters, she's a lot more effective. But she has won over 1700 meters in lower grades so you just never know.

Allen, though, was in no doubt about where she should head next: "She's in form, she goes good, she's won over the mile around Flemington before, so there's no reason not to go to the All-Star Mile with the big prize-money on offer and she'd be in with a big shout."

As a late 2-year-old at the 2019 Karaka May Sale, Sierra Sue was sold for just NZD$2,000 by Ardsley Stud to Te Aroha trainer Peter Lock.

Winning a barrier trial in December, 2019 at Te Aroha, she was then sold to an ownership group led by Ozzie Kheir and Brae Sokolski with agent Phill Cataldo acting on their behalf.

Racing in Kheir's colours, she was one of three group 1 winners for Kheir and Sokolski Saturday, alongside Chipping Norton Stakes (G1) heroine Verry Elleegant and Surround Stakes (G1) winner Hinged.

Sierra Sue is the fifth foal to race, and the only stakes winner, out of the Centaine mare Centree.