La Danseuse Rouge furnished into a strong filly following her first juvenile prep and she showed the benefit of that six-month spell at Sandown Hillside this week.
The 3yo daughter of Geisel Park sire Manhattan Rain also appreciated the addition of blinkers and a tongue-tie to win first-up in the Tobin Brothers Hcp (1000m) on Wednesday. She sat outside Wicklow Hills (NZ) who had beaten her in a Ballarat nursery on debut in March and then dealt with the leader at the top of the straight only to be headed by Boldinho (Brazen Beau).
La Danseuse Rouge had to lift again for Matt Cartwright and was doing better than anything else on the line to score by three-quarters of a length.
“She’s a fighter,” Cartwright reported. “I’ve been working her in the mornings and today was a good reward.
“I let her slide from the gates and she travelled extra well with the blinkers. She cruised down the hill and still had enough left when the other one levelled up to put them away.”
La Danseuse Rouge is French for “The Red Dancer” and is trained by Cliff Brown for Imperial Racing who bred her in partnership with Blue Gum Farm.
Her dam Margaux, an Irish-bred mare by Exceed And Excel, was sold to Singapore-based Premier Racing for 95,000gns (AUD 177,840) at the 2014 Tattersalls Craven 2YO Sale.
Margaux was trained by David Kok and won at Kranji in September 2016 with Glen Boss aboard before transferring to Australia in March 2018. She hails from an Aga Khan family going back to 1989 European Champion 3YO Filly Behera (Mill Reef) who has 9 Group winners under her name. Among them is former WA stallion Vital Equine (Danetime).
Margaux also has a 2yo filly by Manhattan Rain and the cross with Exceed And Excel mares has produced 12 winners at an outstanding 86% strike-rate. The best of that dozen has been Scarlet Rain who scored an all-the-way victory in the 2017 edition of the G2 Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m) at Randwick.
Manhattan Rain (Redoute’s Choice) is currently covering his initial WA book for $8,800 at Geisel Park alongside All American (Red Ransom) for $5,500. Service fees (inc GST).
