Eneeza lands the Merson Cooper Stakes

Race experience has proven invaluable for Eneeza who registered a comfortable victory in her second race start on Saturday.

A debut placegetter during the Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington, The Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained Eneeza headed to Caulfield to contest the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m), coming away with a stylish victory.

Despite sitting wide in the run to hometurn, Eneeza, the $2.40 bookmakers favourite, was slipped some rein by jockey Damian Lane in the straight to go on and record a 2-¼ length win from Flattered ($7) with Express Yo’self ($12) a further three-quarters-of-a-length away third.

Coleman said not a lot went right for Eneeza on debut, adding the filly had taken a great deal of improvement from the outing.

“She sort of had to do it the hard way today but she was good enough to kick off that good speed which was really nice to see,” Coleman said.

“I think definitely having that run under her belt, she’s handled today so well. She’s just a real professional this filly.”

A daughter of Exceed And Excel from the Bel Esprit mare Sweet Sherry, Eneeza was a $1.1 million yearling purchase earlier year and is eligible for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast next month.

However, Coleman said the stable would wait and see how the filly recovers from Saturday’s victory before making a decision of whether to head north with the two-year-old.

“Pete (Moody) has always had a soft spot for her from day one,” Coleman said.

“She’s a beautiful type of filly and she’s just that type of two-year-old that looks like a natural athlete and a natural runner.

“She is a Magic Millions filly but we’re not committing to that, we’ll just see how she comes through this first and foremost and she how she pulls up.”