Breakout filly Eastward can go all the way for Western Australian owners Ron Sayers and Eddie Rigg.
Eastward (3f Exceed And Excel – Encarta by Westminster) was a class above her rivals on debut in the Roderick Insurance Maiden (1000m) at Geelong on Friday. She sat off the fence in front and, after a reminder from Rhys Wheeler at the top of the straight, bolted in by four lengths.
Sayers (Yarradale Stud) and Rigg (Geisel Park) are major players in the west and Rigg part-owns last-start Belmont winner Bliss Street. The Flying Spur filly is being set for the G1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) on October 12.
Trainer John Hawkes has also entered Eastward for the Caulfield classic and she’s bred to stretch out to a mile.
The Geelong winner was a $55,000 buy out of the Oakwood Farm draft at the 2010 Gold Coast Magic Millions. Her sire Exceed And Excel is enjoying a ground-breaking year in England and his colt Helmet is the opening favourite for the G1 Caulfield Guineas on October 8.
Eastward is a younger half-sister to G3 STC Sweet Embrace Stakes winner Burning Sands (Marju). Their dam is a half-sister to Skoozi Please who was a stakes winner in NZ, Australia and Dubai.
Hawkes also owns a One Thousand Guineas pedigree going back to 1972 with his breakout filly Toltrice. He also won with it with Woodlands homebreds Shame (1995) and Mnemosyne (2005).
Team Hawkes has covered all the bases with seven entrants for the One Thousand Guineas. TAB SportsBet quoted Eastward at $71 on Saturday morning.