TAB Champions Stakes (Group 1)

YULONG have played hard at international sales in recent years, spending big on Alcohol Free (5,400,000gns) and Place Du Carrousel (€4,025,000), both who raced in Australia, but without doubt their purchase of the Irish-bred Via Sistina (2,700,000 gns) has been a triumph.

The 2023 Pretty Polly Stakes winner by Fastnet Rock has started seven times in Australia, all Group 1s, for five wins. On the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival, fresh off her record-breaking Cox Plate win two weeks earlier, she cruised home by three lengths in the A$3 million Champions Stakes over 2,000m to lift her Australian earnings to just over $7.35 million.

“It was very special,” said trainer Chris Waller. “Winning the Cox Plate the way she did, I think caught everyone by surprise, and then the pressure to back her up and go one more run.

“We spoke about sport analogies and having another game after a grand final and we were thinking about it constantly. But she’s a very, very special horse, obviously. Don’t underestimate how hard these horses work, so we could see that.

Temptation

“We just backed off in the last two weeks and gave her a good time and it worked. There was the temptation to run in a Melbourne Cup, but I think the Melbourne Cup is a good enough story without us.

“I might take her back to England. I’ll talk to (Yulong’s owner) Mr Zhang and his family.”

Ridden by James McDonald, Via Sistina defeated her stablemate the Savabeel mare Atishu, winner of the Group 1 Empire Rose last Saturday.

Without A Fight, last year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner, having his first start since last year’s Melbourne Cup, was third, giving every indication a trip to Hong Kong’s International meeting in December is well in play.

Brightside brilliant in Mile

VRC Champions Mile (Group 1)

BACK in distance to the mile after his fourth in the Cox Plate, Mr Brightside again highlighted how consistently he performs at the top level, with a brilliant win in the A$3 million Group 1 VRC Champions Mile at Flemington last Saturday.

The seven-year-old Bullbars gelding has finished either first or second 17 times in his past 20 races, 16 of those being Group 1 events.

On Saturday, with Pride Of Jenni taking the field out in a more conventional fashion, Mr Brightside was never more than three lengths from the front.

As Pride Of Jenni weakened at the 300m mark and the challengers emerged, Craig Williams was able to present Mr Brightside inside the final 100m to claim a half-length win ahead of the Toorak Handicap winner Antino with the three-time Group 1 winner Fangirl.

Great horse

“I was talking to Ben Hayes about when we started him off, when he was going to Geelong maidens and going through all his grades, how they’ve developed this great horse,” recounted Craig Williams.

“He’s had a great preparation. He won the Makybe Diva Stakes here. The Grand Final was the Cox Plate, he ran fourth but ran a phenomenal race.

“They’ve come here today for the Champions Mile, with all these horses, they’ve gone for blinkers for the first time and he was the right product today.

“So credit to all their team. And of course, Mr B, he’s got no BS in him and he’s just a real competitor. He did all the running and fighting today. Thanks buddy.”

The postscript to the VRC Champions Mile was the retirement of Pride Of Jenni.

A revelation the past 12 months with her daring front-running escapades with Declan Bates in the saddle, though he was replaced for her final start, Pride Of Jenni bled from both nostrils and was retired straight after the race.

Last season’s Australian Racehorse of the Year won three Group 1s in the past 12 months and was runner-up in another four.

The Pride Of Dubai seven-year-old mare won eight of her 35 starts for just over $10 million in stakes.

Darley Champions Sprint (Group 1)

ROB Archibald celebrated his first win as a Group 1-winning trainer when Sunshine In Paris, co-trained with Annabel Neasham, saluted in the Darley Champions Sprint down Flemington’s straight six.

An equal second-favourite behind a pair of Everest winners, Bella Nipotina and Giga Kick, the Invader mare came with a beautifully timed run from James McDonald to land an inch-perfect win, defeating the Zoustar filly Right To Party and the Pride Of Dubai mare Bella Nipotina by the barest of margins.

“She’s such a special horse,” said Annabel Neasham. “I’m so grateful to (owner) John Camilleri. Obviously, he purchased her when I was already training her and there was no guarantee she was coming back to me. So, to put her back in our stable and give us the faith with her, I’m just glad we can repay him.”

Sold for $90,000 as an unraced two-year-old in the 2022 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Sunshine In Paris returned to the same sale in 2023 as a Group 1 Surround Stakes winner, where James Harron Bloodstock, on behalf of John Camilleri’s Fairway Thoroughbreds, purchased her for $3,900,000.

She has since won a pair of Group 2s and was fifth in the Everest before Saturday’s win.

“The plan was to try and be a bit closer, because the last couple of runs, she, maybe due to the barriers, just ended up too far back. But she’s just got such a strong finish. It was just waiting for that gap, but we had the right man on board.”

JAMES McDonald, always a great Cup week default if you haven’t a horse to follow, took out four races on Saturday’s final day to finish with 11 winners for the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival, breaking his own record of 10 wins set in 2021. Four of those winners were Group 1s.

“It means a lot. It should have been 15, as I butchered four,” quipped McDonald. “It’s a privilege and an honour to ride here this week. Great atmosphere, the crowds make it so much fun.

“These four days are very special. The colour, the vibe, everything about it is special.

“It’s one of the best in racing. I ride for some brilliant trainers, I get on the best horses and I’m lucky to be able to drive them, basically.

“I steer them around a white rail and hope for the best and they do the rest.”

New Zealand

Savaglee savages Guineas

Al Basti Equiworld Dubai 52nd New Zealand 2000 Guineas (Group 1)

COMING into the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas off a pair of 1,400 metre Group 2 wins was enough for on-course punters to send the Pam Gerard-trained Savaglee out as a $1.60 favourite at Riccarton Park.

In the field of eight, the Savabeel colt didn’t disappoint, Camped behind the leading pair approaching the final bend, he cruised to the lead before running away with a three-length win. Second was the Snitzel filly Love Poem, ahead of the Swiss Ace gelding Domain Ace.

“That was pretty much perfect, he came back to me so nicely and just cruised along,” said jockey Samantha Sparat, who is currently leading the New Zealand Jockeys’ Premiership.

“They loomed up to us in the straight, but he’s got an amazing turn of foot. He just kicked away and was too good. I haven’t ridden a lot of colts like him in my time, so it’s very special to be riding him and winning this race today.”

A NZ$400,000 Karaka Book 1 yearling, Savaglee was purchased from Waikato Stud’s draft and races in the colours of The Oaks Stud.

“It’s fitting that we won this race today with Pam Gerard,” said Rick Williams from The Oaks Stud.

“A few years ago, when she was an assistant trainer with Te Akau, she came down here with our filly Risque and spent about three months here with her during that spring. She ended up winning the 1000 Guineas, so as far as I’m concerned, Pam and The Oaks Stud are two-from-two together now.”