J&B Met-winning trainer Alec Laird believed he had landed a bargain when securing Judpot filly Maleficent for R160,000 at the Bloodstock SA Val De Vie Sale last year and she proved it at Greyville on Saturday when winning the Listed Devon Air Stakes over 1400m in fine style to give her regular rider Weichong Marwing the first leg of a feature race double.

Maleficent (Nkosi Hlophe)

Her value had already been made greater recently by her full-brother Rocketball, who came close to upsetting Triple Crown hero Abashiri in the Gr 1 SA Derby before finishing a decent fourth in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000.

Maleficent ran green almost throughout on Saturday, but still managed to beat the always handy Querari Falcon by 3,25 lengths, an amazing margin considering how long she took to get going.

She is unbeaten in two starts over 1400m, having lost narrowly on debut over 1200m, and has put a total of 8,75 lengths between herself and the opposition.

Laird said, “She is a strong girl.”

He added she would likely line up for the Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m on Vodacom Durban July day and he would play it by ear from there.

Laird won the colt’s equivalent of that race, the Durban Golden Horseshoe, with another progeny of Judpot, Forest Indigo, in 2013.

Both events have been downgraded from Gr 1 to Gr 2 this year.

Maleficent, who is owned by Chris Gerber and was bred by Shirluck Stud, has landed a plum draw of two among the 28 nominations for the Golden Slipper.

By David Thiselton