With a maiden victory at Otaki on Monday, three-year-old filly Uplifting (NZ) became the fifth winner sired by former high-class Pencarrow racehorse Eminent. More significantly, she became the first Eminent winner to race in those same blue and white hooped colours of Sir Peter Vela.

Uplifting is trained by Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie and cleared maiden ranks at her fourth career start in Monday’s $18,500 The Tele Otaki Maiden (2100m). She had recorded a second and a fifth among her three previous appearances and was sent out as a $3.10 favourite for Monday’s race.

Ridden by Michael McNab, Uplifting sat in fourth place for most of the race before sliding forward to take the lead at the 600-metre mark. She swung around the home turn with a big advantage and remained well clear all the way down the straight, winning by two and a half lengths. The second placegetter finished almost six lengths clear of the rest of the field.

Uplifting’s four-start career has now produced a win, a placing and $15,730 in stakes. She was bred by Pencarrow Thoroughbreds Ltd and is raced by Sir Peter Vela.

Uplifting’s sire Eminent is a special horse to Pencarrow and stands at Brighthill Farm for a service fee of $7,500. His oldest progeny are three-year-olds, and the other four winners alongside Uplifting are Fon Memories (NZ), Dulcet (NZ), Sheaf (NZ) and Leave A Light On (NZ).

Sir Peter Vela raced Eminent throughout a 14-start career that began in the United Kingdom with a victory at Newmarket as a two-year-old. He added the Group Three Prix Guillaume d’Ornano (2000m) at Deauville and Newmarket’s Group Three Craven Stakes (1600m) as a three-year-old, along with a third in the Group One Irish Champion Stakes (2000m) and a fourth in the Group One Epsom Derby (2400m).

An Irish-bred son of the legendary racehorse and superb sire Frankel, Eminent later travelled to Australia, where he ran second behind Avilius (Pivotal) in the Group One Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill. Now he has made a promising start at stud, including Monday’s special first winner for Pencarrow Racing.

The dam of Uplifting is Uberalles (NZ) (Giant’s Causeway), who was a winner over 1600 metres and placed in the Group One New Zealand Derby (2400m) and Group Two Great Northern Guineas (2100m).

Uberalles is a half-sister to fellow stakes performers Seraphim (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle), Imperium (NZ) (Encosta De Lago) and Duquesa (NZ) (Encosta De Lago), along with the dams of black-type stars Supera (NZ) (Savabeel), Eleonora (NZ) (Makfi) and the recent Pencarrow-bred stakes winner Pericles (NZ) (Rubick).

The dam of Uberalles is none other than the mighty Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm), who won eight races and almost $5m in stakes in a superb racing career. Her four Group One victories included the rare Caulfield Cup (2400m) and Melbourne Cup (3200m) double, along with the Queensland Oaks (2400m) and Tancred Stakes (2400m).