A half-sister to four-time Cox Plate champion Winx has broken through for her maiden victory on the synthetic track at Pakenham.
Covent Garden took out Tuesday’s Schweppes 3YO Maiden Plate (1400m) at her first start for Peter Moody having been prepared by Winx’s trainer Chris Waller for her first five starts.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel jumped straight to the lead and was untroubled in the run home under the guidance of Mark Zahra in recording a 1-½ length win.
“It’s important with a filly with that sort of pedigree to make her a winner,” Moody told racing.com.
“She’s a lovely type of filly. She’s furnished out in the time we’ve had her so she’s going to be a nicer mare in time.
“We’ll enjoy today and worry about the future then.”
Covent Garden is owned by her breeder John Camilleri who sent the filly to Moody after her brief stint with Waller.
“John has been a long-time client of the stable and he didn’t have any expectations,” Moody said.
“She’s a filly that showed good ability early but then disappointed a bit.
“He was hoping a change of scenery may turn her around a little bit and it seems to have worked.
“We’re not suggesting we’ve improved it on C Waller. I’d be happy to swap this win for his prize money balance this year.”
Moody said he would now try to find a suitable midweek city race for Covent Garden to progress to.
He said that may be difficult as the filly shapes as though she will perform better of top of the ground.
“That makes it hard at this time of the year, but we’ll just pick our mark and see if she can do it again,” Moody said.
