Zofelle strikes for late Zoffany at Gulfstream Park

Zofelle produced a timely tribute to her late sire Zoffany by presenting him with a first notable success in 2021 by landing the Grade 3 Marshua's River Stakes at Gulstream Park's lucrative Saturday fixture.

It was two weeks ago that the Coolmore stallion died aged 13 as the sire of 20 Group winners, not to mention three at the highest level, with the Phoenix Stakes scorer leaving an admirable legacy.

His five-year-old daughter Zofelle is now an important breeding prospect for her owner Scott Heider. She began life with Hugo Palmer and won a Doncaster maiden from a few starts in Britain before being sold for 27,000gns at the 2019 Tattersalls July Sale as part of a dispersal from the late Peter Magnier.

Bought by agent Stephen Hillen, she went through the ranks for trainer Brendan Walsh in America up to the black type Pago Hop Stakes at Fair Grounds and joined Heider's operation.

On her first start since the Grade 1 Just A Game Stakes last June, she stalked the pace under Tyler Gaffalione and put the mile event to bed in the straight to score by two lengths.

Zofelle is out of the unraced Galileo mare Height Of Elegance, a sibling of Fillies' Mile winner Listen and Henrythenavigator's dam Sequoyah. Height Of Elegance, who was sold to Eaton Bloodstock for €210,000 as a further stage of the Magnier dispersal, has also produced Joseph O'Brien's recent maiden winner Queenship.

"She had a very good year last year," Walsh told BloodHorse. "We gave her a break. She came back from the break and she had been working really, really good. Came to hand really fast, had been working well for this, so it was nice to see her do what she did there."

Just one race earlier Walsh had trained Prevalence, a Godolphin-bred newcomer by Medaglia d'Oro, to an effortless victory in a seven-furlong maiden.

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