She Will Reign stamped herself as the leading 2YO in Australasia with another breathtaking victory in Saturday's $500,000 Inglis Nursery at Randwick.
The daughter of Manhattan Rain and Courgetteproved all her doubters wrong when she put four lengths on her rivals in a scintillating display to remain undefeated after two starts.
Such was the dominance of the win, the TAB reacted and have made her an outright $8 favourite for the $3.5million Group 1 Golden Slipper on March 18.
And a wet Sydney week almost prevented the filly even racing.
Scott Darby of Darby Racing – who paid $20,000 for the filly at this year's Inglis Classic Yearling Sale – said if not for sunshine this morning, the filly would have been scratched.
"We decided if we woke up to blue skies, we would run her because while the track would be wet, it would only be a huge concern if it was raining on race day,'' he said.
"Some were saying it's too hard to back up within a week, she's a risk on the wet track, whatever, but we always knew that if we ran her, she would be very hard to beat and that's how it's panned out.''
She Will Reign will now look to do what Mossfun did three years ago and use the Inglis Nursery as a winning platform ahead of Golden Slipper glory the following autumn.
She may also try to 'do an Extreme Choice', who won the Nursery last year and then went on to win the Blue Diamond Stakes, another potential target for She Will Reign.
She Will Reign was bred by Garry Bachell and Mrs CP Ewe, who received a $50,000 supplier's bonus for today's victory, while Kevin Drew of Ambergate Farm claimed a $50,000 vendor bonus.
Bachell raced She Will Reign's mother Courgette at the turn of the decade and thought he had a potential star on his hands then, but soundness issues seriously hampered her racing days.
Ironically Courgette also raced in the Inglis Nursery, finishing seventh behind Chance Bye in 2009 when trained by Gerald Ryan.
She Will Reign is Courgette's first foal to race.
She also has a Shamus Award filly and a Time For War colt on the ground.
Meanwhile King's Authority announced himself as a juvenile colt with a strong future with a dominant debut victory at Flemington today.
King's Authority (Snitzel x Amy's Glen) will be set for the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper by his trainer Mick Price after putting one-and-a-half lengths on his Victorian rivals.
He is the first foal to race for his mother Amy's Glen, who won three races in South Australia for Mark Kavanagh.
His breeder Hillside Thoroughbreds will offer his half- sister at theInglis Premier Yearling Sale in Melbourne from Feb 26-March 1.
Inglis Release
