Having her first start in stakes company and first run at 2000 metres, the Leon and Troy Corstens trained filly fought strongly to the line for Noel Callow to hold off a determined bid from fast finishing Savabeel filly Nurse Kitchen.
It's been a meteoric rise for Montoya's Secret, who won a maiden at Pakenham on March 2, then scored an easy Benchmark 64 win at Moonee Valley on March 13 before coming to Sydney to tackle Group I fillies company at set weights.
"If it was up to me she wouldn't be here, she'd be at home in her box," revealed Leon Corstens.
"I thought she wasn't quite ready for a race like this, but Troy talked me into it and said 'you don't get many of these races'."
No immediate plans are in place for Montoya's Secret, although she is entered
for the Group I ATC Australian Oaks (2400m) on April 8."We'll get her back home and just see how she pulls up," Corstens added.
A $130,000 NZB Premier purchase for Bahen Bloodstock/ Malua Bloodstock from the Phoenix Park draft, Montoya's Secret has won three of 10 starts earning over $405,000 in prizemoney.
Bred in Australia by Rosemont Stud, she is a half-sister to Group III winning stayer Delago's Secret and stakes-placed Secret Delight from Group I placed Thunder Gulch (USA) mare Divine Secret, a daughter of stakes-winner Prayerful.
Divine Secret has a yearling colt by Starspangledbanner and was covered last year by Rosemont's Stud's Toorak Toff.
Montoya's Secret is the second winner of the Group I ATC Vinery Stud Stakes for High Chaparral joining the 2015 winner Fenway. She is his 92ndstakes-winner and his 16th Group I winner.
The last crop of yearlings by High Chaparral are being offered this year and he has six entries for Inglis Easter, click here to see them.
While the sun has set for High Chaparral, it is on the rise for his sire sons So You Think, now the leading Australian Second Season Sire and Dundeel, whose first yearlings are selling this year.
