by Mark Smith
Short-priced favourite Aitch Two Oh was given a fright by Peter Moody’s Winning Rupert debutant Winning Revolution before the daughter of Headwater dug deep to earn a maiden stakes success in Saturday’s Without Fear Stakes at Morphettville.
The winner of her first two starts, Aitch Two Oh played second fiddle to her stablemate See You in Haven in the Listed Dequetteville Stakes at her most recent start.
Ridden by Jake Toeroek for Richard and Chantelle Jolly, Aitch Two Oh defeated Winning Revolution by a short-neck, with the Star Turn filly Prairie Flower a further length back in third.
“It’s great to win these races with fillies; it puts value on them,” Richard Jolly said.
“That was her race today. She didn’t know how to put that filly inside of her away. She got the better of her, but it was a nail biter.
“She was an athletic filly (as a yearling). I have had good luck with the Headwaters, everyone that we have bought has won, so I will keep buying them.
“Now that she has won, she is a valuable filly and has a pedigree.
“You can’t always separate them (stablemates), so she is likely to meet See You In Heaven again in the Group III (David Coles Stakes)."
Headwater
Bred by Gerry Harvey, Aitch Two Oh was a $65,000 purchase by her trainers from the Baramul Stud draft at the 2021 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
She is the first runner for the winning swiss Ace mare Very Dogmatic, a sister to the Group III BRC Vo Rogue Plate winner Mywayorthehighway.
Kavanagh Racing bought a Press Statement half-brother to Aitch Two Oh for $85,000 from the Baramul draft at the 2022 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
Very Dogmatic has a weanling filly by All Too Hard and was covered by him again last spring.
Aitch Two Oh is the fifth stakes winner for Headwater, which stands at a fee of $16,500 in 2022.