Flying Fortuna Fillies have Massive “debut” day at Waipukarau – Shafiq Rusof rides both

What a day at Waipukurau with two Fillies on Debut and both won – first off the block was 2yo Filly GRAND ARIANA (Snitzel-Enduja) – a filly acquired by David Ellis for Fortuna for $70,000 in a private sale. She had taken a little time to come to hand, but had trialed well in recent weeks. Lost for early speed, she was a mile off them on the turn and still looked no chance to run in the money with 250 metres to go, but under the urging of rider Shafiq Rusof, she scored an impressive long neck victory on the line. John Galvin, currently on vacation in Paris with Jessica Galvin, quipped “that was well worth getting up at 2.30 am to watch” – and in reference to Golden Slipper winner, Estijaab,also a filly by Snitzel, he added “and we didn’t pay A$1.7m for her either – this underscores Fortuna’s “value” approach to our purchasing – David Ellis did a great job for us with this one.”

Click HERE to see Video relay

Two races later it was the turn of 3yo METEORIC LASS (Stratum-Benetar), a filly acquired by David Ellis for Fortuna at the 2016 Magic Millions Sale for A$60,000. John Galvin comments “Boy, this girl has really tested our patience – when we bought her she looked as if she would be a natural 2yo, but just kept growing and growing and it has taken a lot of time for her body to catch up with herself.”

And rider Shafiq Rusof also exhibited patience of the highest order – placing her on the speed, she was in front turning for home, but Shafiq waited and waited before going for her in the last 200 metres to win by 1.5 lengths on the line.

“Shafiq has ridden competitively with the best of them in Singapore and has ridden a lot of winners for us up there – he is a class act and a very valuable addition to the NZ Riding ranks” said John Galvin.

Meteoric Lass – winning on debut Waipukurau 3rd May 2018

Click HERE to see Race result and Video relay