Spanish Whisper (Image: Trish Dunell)
The relatively unknown Spanish Whisper will make her Australian debut for the Lindsay Park stable in the Atlantic Jewel Stakes (1200m) on Saturday at The Valley.
The Lope De Vega filly was purchased by Mark Pilkington off the back of a successful two-year-old campaign in New Zealand and the stable have high hopes for the three-year-old with Thousand Guineas aspirations this spring.
"She was brought by Mark Pilkington and the current New Zealand owners retained half, which gave us a lot confidence to pay the big dollars," trainer David Hayes explained on Thursday morning.
"Mark put Darren Thomas in (the ownership) much in the same vein of the He's Our Rokkii deal.
"I think he has brought a really nice filly for the stable."
He's Our Rokkii went on to claim Group 1 success in the 2016 Toorak Handicap for the stable and Spanish Whisper arrives with a similar formline.
A winner at Group 2 level in the Matamata Breeders Stakes (1200m) she went on to be placed in the G1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie back in March this year.
"She will be better once she gets out over more ground but in her trials, she showed lovely speed and (being by) Lope De Vega, when he gets a good one he gets a very good one, so hopefully she can convert her trials into the race," Hayes added.
"If she handles The Valley she will be very competitive I think.
"She is really working like a classy filly; the stable is blessed with a lot of Stakes-class fillies and she holds her own very well with them."
Stablemate Khulaasa will take on Spanish Whisper on Saturday in the three-year-old fillies feature, with Lindsay Park looking for an improved performance second-up after finishing four lengths behind Sunlight in the Quezette Stakes last month.
"She is a Group winner so there is no easy race for her now, but I do feel she is capable of winning another Group race, but she probably needs to improve on her first run to beat these quality fillies," Hayes added.