Girl Gone Rockin' puts best foot forward in Flemington win Strong finish: Dwayne Dunn urges Girl Gone Rockin' to victory in the Momentum Energy Stakes. It has been a long wait but at Flemington on Saturday in the $300,000 group 2 Momentum Energy Stakes (2000 metres), Girl Gone Rockin' finally added a stakes-race win to crown her impressive pedigree. The mare was an $NZ380,000 yearling purchase for Rosemont Stud in New Zealand in 2010 and while she had won metropolitan races, a stakes win seemed a long way off. "I'd had a friendship with Wayne Hawkes for 15 years and said we need to get a horse with you," said Anthony Mithen, who runs Rosemont with his brother-in-law Nigel Austin. Hawkes, who trains in partnership with his father John and brother Michael, found Girl Gone Rockin', a daughter of Redoute's Choice from Storm Queen Stakes winner Sorrento, at the New Zealand sales and the Rosemont team stumped up the funds to purchase her. Ridden by Dwayne Dunn, Girl Gone Rockin' ($17) settled three wide with cover in midfield and coming to the turn was still giving the leaders a big break. Inside the 300 metres, Keep De Rose ($12) and Queenstown ($4.40), which had raced on-speed, looked to have the race between them. But under Dunn's urgings, Girl Gone Rockin' really knuckled down strongly to get to Queenstown in the last stride, to win by a nose, with a half length back to Keep De Rose. Dunn said he had been held up for a run as they straightened but once clear, Girl Gone Rockin' showed plenty of determination. "Once she broke into the clear, she really hit the line nicely," Dunn said. She probably hasn't pinned her ears back like that for some time, but for her to hit the line like that is a real credit to her. Hawkes said that despite the mare's price, the stable was confident that she could run well despite the rise in class. "We started her in a group 2 first-up here so we have always had a bit of an opinion of her," Hawkes said. We thought she would run well but if you lined her up for what she was eligible for, she was a bit out of her depth. So we wanted to get the suck run home and get a good cart [into it] and Dwayne gave her a 10 out of 10 ride. Certainly, Hawkes was in no doubt about what the group 2 win had done for Girl Gone Rockin's residual value as a broodmare. "It's something special to win a group 2 mares race over the carnival and this mare's value has gone up about threefold in about a minute-and-a-half," he said. Hawkes said Girl Gone Rockin' was now likely to head to the spelling paddock. The win certainly surpassed Mithen's expectations. "We thought she was capable of winning a black type race but thought it would be something minor, so to win a group 2 at Flemington is just sensational," he said. The disappointment of the race was the Darren Weir-trained Lake Sententia, which started the $3.80 favourite after firming from $4. After enjoying a good run midfield, she took a little while to get clear running in the straight but once she did get out, only plodded.