Yarraman Park’s young gun sire Hellbent is having a fruitful season to be the leading second crop sire by winners and added an interesting new winner to his tally on Wednesday when well bred filly Monks broke her maiden over a staying trip at Geelong.
Trained by Lloyd Kennewell, Monks was the only three year-old engaged in the 2200m maiden and proved much too good for her older rivals when surging clear to win by more than two lengths at her fifth start.
Monks made her debut over 1400m in late October and has steadily stepped up in trip finishing a close second along the way over 1600m before celebrating her first succes.
Winning rider Zac Spain was impressed with Monks, who was a $60,000 Inglis Classic purchase from the Arrowfield Stud draft for Kennewell Racing Pty Ltd / Group1 Bloodstock (FBAA) / Merricks Station
"She drew a good gate (barrier four), I wanted to sit a bit closer, but she just was a little bit tardy out," Spain said.
"She's just a big filly, I didn't want to urge her along and get her overracing first time at the trip.
"She switched off beautiful and from the half-mile I was able to creep into it and she was good through the line. I thought her best work was in that final half-furlong."
Monks is the first progeny of Hellbent to win at a distance beyond 1600m and while she is a three-quarter sister to Group III winning sprinter Overshare, who stands at Widden Stud, there is plenty of stamina in her female pedigree.
She is the fifth winner from five to race from stakes-placed Redoute’s Choice mare Savannah’s Choice, who was second in a Group III BRC Doomben Roses and is a half-sister to champion Japanese 3YO Filly Cesario, a blue hen that has left three Group I winners in Japan – Epiphaneia (2014 Champion Older Horse, 3YO Colt and Japan Cup winner) , Saturnalia (2019 Champion 3YO Colt) and Leontes (2015 Champion 2YO Colt).
Not surprisingly, Savannah’s Choice was exported back to Japan in 2020 and Monks is her last foal born in Australia.
Hellbent has sired 22 winners this season of over $1.4million in prizemoney and will have runners in both Magic Millions 2YO Classic (Fire Lane) and 3YO Guineas (Hell I Am) on Saturday week.
