Spicy Martini storms to Stradbroke Handicap win for Justify’s breakthrough
An $8,000 Justify filly crushed the $3 million Stradbroke, giving Taylor Marshall his first Group 1 and Toby Edmonds his second in the race.
A bargain-buy daughter of Justify turned the Stradbroke Handicap into a career-maker, surging clear at Eagle Farm to win the AU$3 million Group 1 by a length and hand her sire his first Australian top-level winner. Spicy Martini, bought for just $8,000 through Inglis Digital, carried 51.5kg, handled the Heavy 9 track and put away Sepals with Von Hauke third.
The race was never going to be about brute force alone. Taylor Marshall settled Spicy Martini in midpack, angled her out for daylight and let the mare build momentum before the final push. She travelled smoothly and kept finding through the testing ground, stopping the clock in 1:23.81 over 1,400 meters. Sent out at $13, she repelled the field with the confidence of a horse that had already shown she belonged, not the profile of a flier.
That made the result bigger than one afternoon. It was Marshall’s first Group 1 win, a landmark for a rider whose family name already carries real weight in Australian racing. He is the son of John Marshall, the 1999 Melbourne Cup-winning jockey on Rogan Josh, who died in 2018 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Marshall said every jockey needs one horse to put them on the map, and Spicy Martini delivered that stage with force.
For Toby Edmonds, the victory was just as personal. The 60-year-old trainer landed his second Stradbroke Handicap, after Tyzone in 2020, and said he and the team had been "digging in" over the previous three months. He admitted he may not have many training years left, which made this one land even harder, especially with his owners and farrier sharing the grind behind the scenes.
Spicy Martini’s rise has been built the hard way. Coolmore says the mare was foaled and raised at its Jerry’s Plains nursery, won the Group III Fred Best Classic the previous year to earn a crack at the Stradbroke, and was once entered for the 2026 Inglis Chairman’s Sale before being withdrawn to keep racing. That gamble paid off in the biggest possible spot. It also sharpened Justify’s profile in Australia, with a daughter now delivering at the highest level on Stradbroke Day, Queensland’s premier race meeting and a stage the race has occupied since 1890.
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