The early season success of juveniles purchased from March’s Magic Millions QTIS 600 Yearling Sale continued today when promising filly Miss Honahlee won impressively at Townsville.

The Hidden Dragon filly showed a great turn of foot in the straight to reel in the leaders and race away for a two and a half length win.

Prepared at Cairns by Fred Wieland, Miss Honahlee is raced by a group of North Queenslanders headed by well known thoroughbred enthusiasts Rob and Jane Koch.

The Cairns based couple took a shine to the filly at March’s sale and went to $14,000 to purchase her from the draft of Girralie Thoroughbreds.

She won her purchase price back in full today when she pocketed a $14,000 cheque. She won $5,000 when third at her only previous run in a $50,000 Cairns juvenile feature run at Atherton.

“This is what it is all about,” a delighted Rob Koch said today. “We used to love QTIS bonuses – but QTIS 600, this is even better!”

The Koch’s have been a major supporter of the QTIS 600 Yearling Sale and have introduced a number of North Queenslanders to the sale and the industry as a whole.

“We liked the filly a lot – but I wrote in my catalogue that she would be out of our budget.”

“But as it turned out she wasn’t and we we’re delighted to be able to buy her.”

Miss Honahlee showed she was a filly with a future when on debut she recent ran third in a rich $50,000 event.

“She’s done a big job in a short time,” Koch said. “We couldn’t be any happier with her.”

Connections will almost certainly send the filly for a break before she is set for a rich QTIS 600 feature next year as well as the Great Northern Plate – Townsville’s $100,000 juvenile feature.

“We ran second in it one year,” Koch said of the Great Northern Plate. “So it would be great if we could get a win in it.”

Miss Honahlee is from a lightly raced and placed Quest for Fame and is from the same family as stakes winners including Domine, Hockney and Bordeaux.

Her sire Hidden Dragon is one of the country’s in form second season sires and his recent stakes performers have included Hollowlea, Obsidian Dragon and Steel Dragon.

He is also the sire of likely types including Hidden Kisses, Huff and Puff, Miss Imagica, Mystic Dragon and Singapore based Moonlite Shower.

The latest yearlings by Hidden Dragon will start going under the hammer in January at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

The majority of his draft will be up for grabs at March’s QTIS 600 Yearling Sale.