EKTIFAA (AUS) stepped from her Maiden to a Handicap to a Gr2 win in Saturday’s Choice Carriers Championship over 1400m at Kenilworth, running on gamely under Callan Murray to win by three-quarters of a lengths from a fast-finishing Sail, and Final Judgement.

The strength of this field was regarded as good – Mike de Kock believes the three-year-olds are better this season than they were last year and he said: “Ektifaa won a handicap after her Maiden and now this Grade 2 race.

“Joey Ramsden’s Table Bay got beaten in his prep MR84 Handicap recently, he won a big race today. Ektifaa won her MR76 prep very well, any three-year-old that can win a handicap at this time of year is above average, so we decided to go for the Choice Carriers instead of the Starling Stakes.

Callan Murray, rode to instructions. (Photos by Liesl King).

“I asked Callan to ride Ektifaa aggressively, she reared at the start but he stuck to the instructions, rode a very good race. Dennis  Drier’s filly was making ground on us late, but Ektifaa was asked to run hard and she was green on the bend, so the win carries merit.”

Mike will consider the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas next for Ektifaa and said: “Her pedigree suggests that the mile will be her maximum, she will be stretched, but she is a scopy filly and if she draws well we may take our chances.  She is a scopier filly than Entisaar, who was beaten in the Choice Carriers last year and didn’t quite see out the Guineas mile.”

Mike thanked owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai and said: “We’ve had stakes winners from every crop of runners bought for us by Shadwell in Australia.”

Ektifaa is by More Than Ready and the first foal of Stellar Vinia (by Varick), bred by John Camilleri’s Fairway Thoroughbreds.