Randwick
Chipping Norton Stakes (Group 1)
DESPITE the James Cummings-trained Collette having beaten Verry Elleegant at their respective racetrack returns two weeks earlier, the pendulum swung towards the Chris Waller superstar for the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes with the daughter of Zed sent out favourite.
Over the Randwick mile, Verry Elleegant was in for the fight. With Godolphin-trained horses each side of her and a pair of Group 1-winning stablemates down on the rail, it was a line of five with 50 metres to go. Digging as deep as she does, Verry Elleegant continued to find, taking the photo finish to consign the Hallowed Crown mare Collette to second ahead of the Pivotal gelding Avilius as three-quarters of a length separated the first five.
“She loves a fight,” said Chris Waller. “Everybody saw her fighting qualities today. I thought Colette had us cold at the 300-metre mark and then I saw Avilius coming with a well-timed run and she was in the middle of them. Yeah, she dug very deep, it was a good tough win.
“She’s just an unassuming girl that just fights like a tiger and I think it was fitting to be fought out that way because that really is the quality of Verry Elleegant.”
The win was Verry Elleegant’s seventh Group 1 win and her fourth this season. Her earnings now stand at $7.47 million.
Love is all Surround
Surround Stakes (Group 1)
THE fillies had their turn to shine at Randwick on Saturday with the Group 1 Surround Stakes over 1,400 metres on offer.
In a field of 16, the All Too Hard filly Forbidden Love, trained by the brothers Richard and Michael Freedman was ridden cold, and for luck, by Nash Rawiller. Settled mid-field on the rail Rawiller’s patience won the day as they crept closer rounding the bend, but waited till the 200-metre mark before going around a horse. Angled clear and asked for an effort, Forbidden Love quickly put paid to her rivals winning by three lengths ahead of the Vancouver filly Vangelic and the Power filly Elizabeth.
“It’s a big thrill,” said co-trainer Michael Freedman. “Less than 12 months ago she was going around in midweeks at Canterbury. She’s come a long way. She just keeps improving and maturing.” A $150,000 Magic Millions yearling, the Freedmans indicated that the Coolmore Classic and Doncaster Handicap were the possible targets for Forbidden Love.
Fox flies home at 250/1
Flemington
Kennedy Australian Guineas (Group 1)
FIRST run in 1986, the Group 1 Kennedy Australian Guineas at Flemington has an illustrious honour roll with previous winners Zabeel and Pins going on to stellar stud success.
The Foxwedge colt Lunar Fox, a half-length winner of the feature last Saturday, may well follow in their footsteps, but it may take many more years for a longer-priced winner to salute. The Victorian pari-mutuel (TAB) listed the result for Lunar Fox as 250/1 for fixed price and 140/1 on the Tote. Trained by Paul Preusker, Lunar Fox was perhaps unfairly dealt with by the markets, he was after all a Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce winner at Flemington and ran fifth in the Caulfield Guineas.
It’s a bit surreal at this stage. I can’t believe it,” said Holly McKechnie, who was representing Preusker on-course. “He’s always had a lot of ability, this horse. Obviously last start he ran below par (12th at Flemington) and we couldn’t really find any issue. We’ve done the old trick with the blinkers (on) and it seems to have done the job.”
The script looked set with the favourite Tagola leading into the straight as the second elect Zou Dancer loomed into the picture forming a line of seven bearing down on the leader.
The fight to the line resembled more a tug-of-war as small increments were lost and gained until the final 10 strides where Lunar Fox lengthened stride to hit the line a half-length ahead of the fast-finishing Cherry Tortoni, by the Irish stallion Night Of Thunder, as the Lord Kanaloa colt Tagaloa hung on for third.
With a wildcard entry into the A$5 million All Star Mile at Moonee Valley gifted to Lunar Fox, Preusker looks set to head that way with the Foxwedge colt.
“We’ve got him in the All-Star Mile and we’ve got him in Sydney as well, he’s got such a great temperament, we’ll sit down with all the connections and map out what really is priority.”
Preusker who is based at Horsham 300 kilometers west of Melbourne said the win proved a windfall for many in the town of 17,000. “It was amazing what that win has done for the town people,” he said. “I got all these calls from people who said they put down 10 or 20 bucks, some even five bucks on him and so they were to go out and buy things like tanker trailers and that sort of stuff.”
Passed in at the Inglis Premier sale, Lunar Fox was sold two months later at the Inglis Gold Yearling Sale for $40,000.
RIDING Chaillot for Archie Alexander, Wexford native Declan Bates landed the Group 3 Frances Tressady Stakes at Flemington on Saturday having made a sustained run from near the tail.
“She has a good turn of foot but you don’t want to get there too soon,” said Bates. “Once she hits the front she thinks she’s done enough but when you utilise that turn of foot right she can be lethal.”
Bates has been on the Testa Rossa mare for all bar her first two starts, with this her first group win, giving the OTI Racing-led syndicate horse a valuable pedigree update.
“A big effort,” said Alexander. “She hasn’t been a straightforward horse and Declan rides her very well.”
New Zealand
El Cheapo Cars WFA Classic (Group 1)
IN perhaps the least lustrous of named Group 1 races, the El Cheapo Cars Weight-For-Age Classic, Avantage surprised no one at Otaki in posting her eighth win at the highest level having been sent around at the skinny price of NZ$1.20 (1/5).
The Fastnet Rock five-year-old mare, improved her record to 15 wins from 25 starts, with over $2 million in earnings for her Te Akau racing syndicate of owners.
“Halfway down the straight she had a fight on her hands and she found plenty,” said trainer Jamie Richards. “She is an amazing athlete who has been doing this since she was a two-year-old and there is still plenty ahead of her.
“She will travel home and the team will look after her, but I think at this stage her next target could be the (Group 1) Bonecrusher Stakes (2,000 metres) at Ellerslie.”
Home by just under a length, Avantage defeated the Atlante gelding Callsign Mav and the El Roca mare Travelling Light.
“I could see him (Callsign Mav) out of the corner of my eye,” said jockey Opie Bosson. “But once I gave her a few backhanders she put her head out and had a crack. That just shows you how good a racehorse she is, she just loves it.”
TEN years ago the 2012 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale was very much a ‘second sale’ averaging A$72,000 with a median of $60,000 with a top lot of $500,000.
Fast forward to this year’s edition which concluded Tuesday and you see a sale that has grown with the industry. With standard Saturday prize money almost double that of 10 years ago, the figures for the Melbourne Premier mirror that. The 2021 edition recorded an average $139,803, a median of $105,000 and a top lot of $1.1 million.
James Harron was the successful bidder for the top lot, securing the Written Tycoon colt out of Fastnet Rock mare Gybe to be just the second yearling to top seven figures in Melbourne.
“He’s a top-quality colt. His mother Gybe was very talented and obviously Written Tycoon is doing an amazing job,” said Harron. “I thought he was a million-dollar horse every day of the week from what we’ve seen this year. He was always going to demand a lot of attention.
“It’s very difficult to breed that type of horse, out of a Gimcrack winner by Fastnet Rock, off a really good breeder and farm, by Written Tycoon who’s doing an amazing job.”
Offered by Blue Gum Farm, the Euroa-based operation were also the leading vendor selling 25 yearlings for a gross of $5.2 million.