The Racing Weekend In Review 17/4

Once again all the attention was on Royal Randwick with Day 2 of The Championships which provided the four Group 1’s in the Oaks, Sydney Cup, Queen Elizabeth and the Queen of the Turf. Whilst in Melbourne, Caulfield played host to the Victorian Owners and Breeders Raceday headlined by the $1 million Showdown. Morphettville also hosted a couple of Group 3’s ahead of their big carnival over the next month. 

Randwick

The Group 1’s kicked off with the Australian Oaks where Harmony Rose started slight favourite ahead of New Zealand raider, Amarelinha. Josh Parr aboard Harmony Rose was able to dictate things throughout but upon straightening she was swamped by the 300 metre mark. The late closers included winner Hungry Heart who made it three wins in a row including a Group 1 double. Previously referred to as a ‘non winner’, the Frankel filly has certainly silenced her doubters this preparation and looks to have come of age. Behind her was Duais who found a split with 100 metres to go but the winner was too strong to the line. Bargain and Amarelinha rounded out the Top 4 ahead of Montefilia who couldn’t quite replicate her successful Spring campaign. The win of Hungry Heart took jockey Kerrin McEvoy’s Group 1 tally to 71 whilst for trainer Chris Waller it was Group 1 number 125. 

Waller then made it a Group 1 double just over an hour later taking out the Sydney Cup with OTI import Selino. The lightly raced stayer had run ok in his lead up runs but the rise out to 3200 metres was the making of him. Jockey Ron Stewart created the long sustaining run at the 600 and got to the front very early in the straight but his horse never looked like stopping, kicking away to win the Cup impressively. The win gave the Queensland based jockey Stewart his first Group 1 title on Australian soil.  

The beaten brigade didn’t have too many excuses. However, there were a few nice runs including third place getter Miami Bound running on well from way back. She’s Ideel was another who let down nicely to finish in fourth. One of the fancies in Favourite Moon was disappointing, finishing well down the field after his impressive win in the Manion Cup less than a month ago. 

It was then time for the race everyone had been waiting for, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. It was touted as a two horse race between Addeybb and Verry Elleegant, and once again they had a stirring battle down the straight with Addeybb fighting the mare off to go back-to-back in the Queen Elizabeth. It was more than a two horse battle though, with the whole field finishing within 2.6 lengths of the winner. The ever consistent Dalasan fought his heart out to stick on for 3rd whilst Think It Over beat home the Cox Plate Winner, Sir Dragonet and the All-Star Mile winner in Mugatoo into 4th. 

The Group 1’s were rounded out by the Queen of the Turf with New Zealand mare Probabeel sent out the dominant favourite. She shot clear with 200 metres to go and favourite backers looked home for all money before the Wendy Roche trained Nettoyer flew home to steal it in the shadows of the post. The 2020 Doncaster Mile winner was able to have one last crack at Probabeel displaying her dashing turn of foot to salute in another Group 1 upset. 

Away from the Group 1’s the Group 2 Arrowfield Sprint assembled a top line up with some quality sprinters. September Run and Isotope were the top two in the market and it was mixed results for the pair. September Run simply wasn’t in the hunt and when the sprint was on down the straight she couldn’t improve her position fading to finish back in 8th. For Isotope it was the one that got away, arguably unlucky she had to duck back through horses for runs whilst the eventual winner Wild Ruler was off and gone. It was an impressive win from Wild Ruler who looks to be up to some of the big sprints over the Spring including a potential shot at The Everest.  

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Caulfield 

Finance Tycoon took out the feature million dollar Showdown in stunning fashion, streaking clear to win by 4.5 lengths. After winning on debut in the Maribyrnong Plate the Dabernig & Hayes runner has gone on to win at the Gold Coast before running strong races in both the Magic Millions and Blue Diamond. The win on Saturday takes his earnings to a cool $811,000 with connections eyeing off a race like the Coolmore Stud Stakes in the Spring. 

The Listed Bel Esprit stakes produced some promising sprinters including winner Sisstar who looks to have earnt her shot at Group 1 level next start with an eye towards the Sangster. She was fired up early but William Pike was able to settle her just outside the leader before the filly displayed a nice kick at the 200 metres with the late closers not getting near her in the end.

Earlier in the day So Si Bon continued his winning ways taking out the VOBIS Gold Mile under none other than William Pike. In the small but quality field Pike was out the front again guiding So Si Bon through under a hold. The seven-year-old was cuddled in the lead until the 400 when Pikey pushed the go button with Mr Quickie coming home strong but had too much to do finishing in 2nd. Trainer Ben Hayes has interestingly suggested in the aftermath that a trip to Queensland might be on the cards for the gelding looking at a race like the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap. 

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Morphettville 

All eyes were on Steinem heading into the Group 3 Auraria Stakes after her impressive win at Sandown last start. Starting the warm 1.60 favourite she failed to run a drum with barrier 20 making causing her all sorts of trouble. She ran into the race like the winner but peaked at the 100 metres after doing work early in the race. The winner Tyche Goddess just won giving Victorian apprentice Thomas Stockdale his first Group winner. 

The second Group 3 of the day was the R N Irwin Stakes which featured some quality horses including Hey Doc, Exhilarates, Humma Humma and the eventual winner Kemalpasa. Hey Doc was once again disappointing, fading out of it to finish 8th whilst the favourite Kemalpasa dominated out in front and could not be caught running away to win by over two lengths. Kemalpasa most likely heads to the Group 1 Goodwood on the 15th of May whilst runner-up Humma Humma has an eye towards the Group 1 Sangster. 

Looking ahead to next weekend…

The Sydney Autumn Carnival comes to a close on Saturday with the running of the final two Group 1’s for the season in NSW, headlined by the All Aged Stakes. Caulfield hosts the Saturday Metro meeting in Melbourne whilst in Adelaide, Morphettville plays host to the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes, a key lead up to the Group 1 South Australian Derby in three weeks time. With ANZAC Day falling on Sunday both Flemington and Randwick (Kensington) host their traditional ANZAC Day metro meetings to conclude a big weekend of racing! 

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