Urban Groove took the massive step from a provincial maiden win to stakes success at Rosehill on Saturday when she cruised to victory in the listed Reginald Allen Handicap (1200m).
A daughter of former outstanding Magic Millions graduate Charge Forward, Urban Groove found the line strongly under Tommy Berry to beat Brave Soul by a half length margin.
Trainer Gai Waterhouse was thrilled with the performance of the three-year-old filly who was regarded by the stable as one of their leading Magic Millions 2YO Classic contenders late last year.
“This filly is very interesting because she broke her pelvis as a two-year-old,” Waterhouse reported.
“We thought she was going to be a Magic Millions horse and then she had this injury that put her out for nearly a year.”
“She won the other day brilliantly and I thought to myself, this time of the year why don’t we roll the dice.”
Waterhouse said she could look at Melbourne for Urban Groove. Connections could even look at aiming the filly at the $1 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) in January.
Winning rider Tommy Berry couldn’t have been more impressed with the performance of the unbeaten filly.
“Just look at her,” Berry said. “She doesn’t look like she has been around. She hasn’t raised a sweat, hasn’t had a blow.”
“She did that quite easy today. I had to put a couple around her tail, she hung in at the top of the straight, wobbled out, but once she knows what she is doing she is going to be pretty special.”
“You don’t see too many horses come from winning a maiden at Kembla to winning a listed race the next start.”
“You can pretty much put this filly wherever you want, she tries her guts out and has got a lot more in store,” Berry added.
The quality filly was purchased by Waterhouse for $240,000 from the Arrowfield Stud draft at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Urban Groove is one of two winners, from two to race, for the Sydney winning Flying Spur mare Morton.
Morton is a daughter of Blazing Saddles’ Group One winning daughter Heat of the Moment – a winner of six races including the Chipping Norton Stakes in track record time.
Hers is also the family of stakes performers including Light Sweeper, Wasted Emotions, Junebug, Hot Spin, Beyond Pardon and Quest for Success.
Winner: Urban Groove
Breeding: Charge Forward-Morton (Flying Spur)
Race: ATC Reginald Allen Handicap LR
Sold for: $240,000
Sale: 2011 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Vendor: Arrowfield Stud (As Agent)
Buyer: Gai Waterhouse
Earnings: $77,250
Owner(s): N Vass, Mrs A Vass, Ms C Kitching C Peoples, D Henderson, L Henderson, C Mathieson, B Lynton, B Headland & M Byrne
Trainer: Gai Waterhouse (Randwick)
