Glamour Tycoon comes of age in Fillies’ Stakes
A reputation for being a perennial placegetter is now a distant memory for Glamour Tycoon, who scored her second win in a row with a dominant performance in Saturday’s Listed O’Learys Fillies’ Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui.
The daughter of Written Tycoon went winless in the first six starts of her career, but she placed in four of them including a runner-up finish in the Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre 2YO Stakes (1200m). She was also a close sixth in the Group Three Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) and only two lengths from the winner when fifth in the Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), which later produced all of the first seven placegetters in last month’s Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).
Trainer Stephen Marsh dropped Glamour Tycoon back to maiden grade at Ruakaka on November 14, and her long wait for a breakthrough win ended in emphatic style with a powerful victory by three and a half lengths.
On Saturday she stepped back up into black-type company and went back-to-back. Ridden by Sam Spratt, the classy chestnut settled in eighth in a strung-out field and was close to 10 lengths behind the front-running Shoes.
Spratt angled Glamour Tycoon off the rail coming up to the home turn, and at the top of the home straight she was in wide open spaces out in the middle of the track. She went into overdrive with 200m remaining, charging to the lead and opening up an impressive winning margin of two and a half lengths.
The longshot Race Ace ran on from second-last to be the best of the rest, with Egyptian Queen close behind her in third.
“She had that good form out of the Soliloquy, which is probably the benchmark race for the fillies so far this season,” Marsh said. “They were all in that race.
“Going to that maiden at Ruakaka after the Soliloquy, I think she just got so much confidence from that win. She’s a different horse.
“Today she was very dominant. It was great to see her win like that, and she’s certainly a filly going places.”
Glamour Tycoon was bred by Diamond Park Breeding and Racing. She is one of 58 individual stakes winners by star stallion Written Tycoon, while her dam Glamour Gal is a half-sister to the Gr.2 Doomben Roses (2000m) winner Etana.
Offered by Highline Thoroughbreds in Book 1 of Karaka 2022, Glamour Tycoon was bought by Marsh for $220,000. She races in the colours of part-owner Dennis Foster’s Bourbon Lane Stable, and her eight-start career has now produced two wins, four second placings and $89,360 in stakes.