Golden Rose (Group 1)
SECOND to fellow Godolphin-owned Tempted two weeks earlier in the Run To The Rose, Beiwacht lit up his rivals, leading all the way, to break the 1,400-metre track record in winning the Group 1 Golden Rose at Rosehill on Saturday. “He’s a talented horse,” said jockey Adam Hyeronimus.
“He was always going to win a good feature race like this. He has been a work in progress and he’s come back this preparation and he’s realised he’s a racehorse. He’s taken everything in his stride.”
The Chris Waller-trained Bivouac colt blitzed his rivals by four lengths. Second in the Coolmore navy was his stablemate, the Wootton Bassett colt Wodeton, who just shaded the race favourite, Tempted, a Street Boss filly.
“Godolphin has been an amazing story for Australia and they’ve been my biggest competitor for so many years consistently in these big races, the stallion-making races,” said Waller. “I am honoured to be training for the likes of Coolmore, Godolphin. We had four great colts in the race and unfortunately there is only one winner.
“He’s a Silver Slipper winner as a two-year-old, a Group 2 winner and now he has won a stallion-making race. We have to concentrate on Wodeton now and get his one as well. He’s a good colt. It was good to see him finish off well. Wootton Bassett is an amazing success story, it has been a sad week, but it was good to see Wodeton finish it off so well, so a mile certainly wouldn’t be out of his repertoire,” added Waller in reference to the sudden passing of Wootton Bassett at Coolmore’s Hunter Valley base earlier that week.
In regards to Beiwacht, Godolphin Australia managing director Andy Makiv later suggested the Flemington straight may now be the target. “The (Flemington) straight then becomes quite a paramount thing for the autumn, and then maybe even a paramount thing to head to Royal Ascot,” added Makiv. “There are a series of things in play, if he can go and be the colt we can dream he can be.”
Manikato Stakes (Group 1)
LAST Friday, on AFL Grand Final eve in Melbourne, Moonee Valley hosted the Group 1 Manikato Stakes under lights. Attracting a field of 10 for the 1,200-metre sprint, the dual-Group 1 winner Lady Shenandoah was sent off favourite on her first visit to Melbourne, though it was the 30/1 chance Charm Stone that had the run of the race.
The five-year-old I Am Invincible mare, who won the Group 1 Sangster Stakes in April, was positioned behind the leader. Peeling off the fence under Blake Shinn, Charm Stone dashed to the lead at the 150-metre mark to slip away and win impressively by two lengths. Second was the Snitzel gelding Baraqiel ahead of the Hell Bent mare Magic Time, who just shaded Lady Shenandoah who struggled from barrier 10.
“She was dominant. She pinged the lids, got a great trail, and got out at the turn. She put the race to bed, it was a phenomenal win,” said Blake Shinn, who was celebrating his birthday. Charm Stone was a A$1.55 million yearling at the Magic Millions in 2022, and one of his owners sold their 10% share on the Inglis Digital platform two days before the Manikato. Changing hands for $310,000, the 10% share was bought by Yulong under their Walnut Farm banner. Her record now stands at five wins from 13 for earnings of just over A$2.55 million.
CROWD-favourite Pride Of Jenni, with Declan Bates back in the saddle, burst the bubble of star filly Treasurethe Moment with her trademark free-wheeling style, landing a quality win in the Group 2 Feehan Stakes over 1,600 metres at Moonee Valley last Friday. Slipping away from her five rivals at the 1,200-metre mark, the eight-year-old Pride Of Dubai mare got away by five lengths as Treasurethe Moment, the next best, was left to do the ‘donkey work’ to haul in the leader.
Narrowing the margin to two lengths around the final bend, Treasurethe Moment was simply unable to reduce that any further as the large crowd erupted to Pride Of Jenni’s bold exploit. The Alabama Express filly took second, snapping a nine-straight winning streak that included four Group 1s, with the Churchill horse Attrition taking third, six lengths from the winner.
“I got to hear the crowd roar.” said the Co Wexford-born Bates. “I think it was the first time I had heard it as it’s usually just me and her. The crowd at The Valley gave a big roar at the 600 metre and that’s when I thought I must have had them in trouble. What a horse. From the 1,000 metre I said let’s go and they can try and catch me. At the half-mile, I gave her a squeeze and I knew we were in business.” A A$100,000 Inglis Classic yearling purchase, Pride Of Jenni has now started 40 times for 11 wins and 12 placings and earnings of over $10.7 million.
ROBBIE Dolan will not be reunited with last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice, who was missing from the first acceptors for the Cup taken on Tuesday. Trained by Sheila Laxon and John Symons, Knight’s Choice has been caught up in a strangles outbreak at Macedon Lodge.
The facility north-west of Melbourne, formerly owned by Lloyd Williams and key to the Cup victories of Ethereal, Efficient, Green Moon and Almandin, will remain in lockdown indefinitely until the bacterial condition, which often results in an upper respiratory tract disease, is brought under control.
“He is sick anyway, he has got something, whether it be strangles or another virus,” said Symons. “We won’t push on with him, regardless of what the tests say. We just haven’t got the time to get him ready for the Melbourne Cup, regardless of whether we could put him back into work tomorrow or not.”
66 remain in Cup
Sixty-six of the 119 original nominations still remain in the A$10 million Melbourne Cup after first acceptances were taken on Tuesday. Of those 66, 11 are internationally-trained horses, five of which arrived at Werribee last Sunday to begin their quarantine. They were the Willie Mullins-trained Absurde, Simon and Ed Crisford’s Meydaan, Brian Ellison’s Onesmoothoperator, Alessandro Botti’s Presage Nocturne and Golden Snap, trained in Japan by Katsunori Tanaka.
Scheduled to arrive around October 14th are the Joseph O’Brien pair, Al Riffa and Goodie Two Shoes, Andrew Balding’s Further, William Mott’s Parchment Party, the Henk Grewe-trained Flatten The Curve and Chevalier Rose, trained by Hisashi Shimizu. Al Riffa and Sir Delius remain at the head of local markets as A$5 favourites.
Howden Insurance Mile (Group 1)
SWOOPING late in the Howden Insurance Mile at Te Rapa on Saturday, Waitak overwhelmed La Crique in the dying stages to add a second Group 1 victory to his record of seven wins from 33 starts. His dynamic run as the widest runner coming from midfield yielded the win by over a length for the Proisir gelding with the Vadamos mare comfortably ahead of the third-placed Zed gelding Ladies Man.
“The team has been so confident with this horse all week. He galloped the house down on Wednesday morning and he’s just kept improving,” said Andrew Scott, who co-trains Waitak with Lance O’Sullivan.
“It’s all about getting him to relax and settle in his races. When he does that, he’s got such a wicked turn of foot. He’s been very lightly raced and has just turned six. We said at the start of the season that this will be his best year.”
Waitak will now be set for the Group 1 Livamol Classic at Ellerslie on October 18th over the Cox Plate distance of 2,040 metres.