DEMARCHELIER (GB) daughter Watchtower made the most of her stakes debut on Sunday with a determined victory in the Autumn Miss Stakes (G3) to give her sire his first stakes winner.
The one-mile turf race run at Santa Anita saw Watchtower settle as one of the back three horses while the leader ran away from the field over 10 lengths in front. Not much changed until the turn when the field swarmed Wine On Tap and Watchtower was gearing up.
Watchtower had to switch to the outside and had plenty of work to do to catch the late leader, but got up just in time to win by a nose.
A White Birch Farm-bred filly, Watchtower races for Abbondanza Racing, Omar Aldabbagh, and Michael Iavarone. Trained by Richard Baltas, the filly has hit the board in six of seven starts and sold in April for $310,000 at the Keeneland April Horses of All Ages Sale.
Watchtower is one of four winners out of the stakes placed Zloty, who is one of two stakes performers out of her own Grade 3 placed dam. Watchtower makes Zloty a fourth-generation stakes producer with eight other stakes performers named under her first four dams.
DEMARCHELIER (GB) is the sire of 57% winners to runners and is striking at 8.4% stakes performers to runners from his first crop.