Clifton Red was a fitting winner of the Group 3 TBV Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday.

Her breeder and managing part-owner Bill Cockram is a son of former TBV committeeman Ted Cockram who pioneered Super VOBIS back in 1987.

Clifton Red (2f Sebring – Pretty Penny by Encosta De Lago) is trained by David Hayes and is the latest stakes winner for the Cockram family and Lindsay Park.  “It was a big ask to win down the straight six at her very first start,” Bill Cockram said.  “We are really looking forward to the future – she will make a really nice three-year-old.

“Winning the TBV Stakes is a real thrill.  Dad is watching from home and he’s very happy.”

Ted Cockram bred champion racehorse and sire Century and he was a Moonee Valley committeeman for over a decade.  Bill has always been active within the industry and he was voted on to the Geelong committee earlier this season.

Clifton Red was the first of three runners from her dam Pretty Penny at headquarters on Australian Cup day.  I Am Titanium (Flying Spur) was fifth home in the LR MSS Security Stakes and her G2 Sandown Classic winner Sertorius (Galileo) finished third in the G2 Blamey Stakes.

“We have put a lot of time and effort into our breeding and mare selections,” Cockram explained.  “We are very proud to have all three starting in black-type events on such a big day.”

Pretty Penny won five races in Melbourne and was beaten a nose in the G3 W W Cockram Stakes at Caulfield in August 2005.  Now based at the Cockram family’s Shadow Glen Stud at Modewarre, she has a yearling colt by High Chaparral and is back in foal to Sebring.

Hayes indicated Clifton Red is now likely to run in Sydney with the Riesling Stakes at Rosehill next on the agenda.  She will come into her own over longer trips in races like the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes and ATC Champagne Stakes.

“She’s right there amongst my better two-year-old fillies,” Hayes said.  “She’s big and rangy and it was a good effort to win a Group race on debut.”