“The Gangster Returns”

Melbourne’s first Group 1 program of the 2015/16 racing season saw a quality daughter of Al Maher race to fore when Madam Gangster landed the Group IIII MRC William Hill Sprint Series Heat 1 Stakes (1200m) .

Having her first start since late March, Madam Gangster overcame an unfavourable barrier draw and a wide passage in transit to claim a coveted black-type event better known as the Cockram Stakes.

Never closer than four horses off the fence, the 5-year-old racemare found plenty over the closing stages to claim victory by a determined short half-head winning margin.

Madam Gangster has now won five of her seven starts as a 4- or 5-year-old mare and became a two-time Group 3 winner with her latest victory.

She also proved successful in the VRC Frances Tressady Stakes at the beginning of the year. All told, the seasoned daughter of Al Maher has now recorded six wins and two seconds from 18 starts, amassing close to $350,000 in earnings.

Winning co-trainer Lee Hope remarked after the win: “Coming here the 1200 was always a little bit of a worry, and I don’t think that she is as good on a deteriorating track to be truthful. She has always had a lot of fight in her and she has a lot of guts, so just the way that she battled it out was right up there because I don’t think she really handled it.”

Hope subsequently identified the Group 2 VRC Let’s Elope Stakes at Flemington in the second week of September as Madam Gangster’s likely next start.

Madam Gangster hails from the immediate family of the outstanding racehorse and sire Grand Lodge. As a daughter of Al Maher and maternal grand-daughter of Chief’s Crown, she is bred 3S X 3D to Danzig.