Serena Bay (Sebring x Caiguna) kept her unbeaten record in tact at Rosehill today with a tenacious victory in the Goldners Horse Transport Golden Gift (1100m).
Ridden in front by Melbourne Cup-winning hoop Kerrin McEvoy, Serena Bay was headed halfway down the straight by John O'Shea's Florid but her fighting spirit won out, defying even a late surge by fellow Inglis graduate and All Too Hard debutant Reflectivity.Serena Bay was a $200,000 purchase for Gai Waterhouse Racing from the Edinburgh Park draft at the 2016 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
She will now target the $500,000 Inglis Nursery at Randwick on December 17.
Extreme Choice won the Nursery last year on his way to winning the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes, while Mossfun won it in 2013 before winning the Group 1 Golden Slipper later in her juvenile season.
Bott said as long as Serena Bay recovered as he hoped, she would head to the Nursery for her next start.
"She's a lovely big tough filly and I'm sure she'll come through today's race well,'' he said.
"We'd love to take her to the Inglis Nursery race as she's an Inglis graduate and it's a lot of prizemoney so it looks an ideal target."
Serena Bay is the second-born of four foals of Caiguna, a daughter of Royal Ascot's Queen Anne Stakes winner Dubai Destination.
Caiguna's only other progeny to race, a Sepoy gelding named Seguna, has run one placing from two career starts for David & Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig.
Caiguna has two other Sebring filly foals on the ground – full sisters to Serena Bay - the eldest of which Edinburgh Park is offering at the 2017 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, a filly sure to attract significant interest.
