TAB Turnbull Stakes (Group 1)

VIA Sistina landed her third Group 1 from five runs in Australia following a thrilling victory in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

The Irish-bred Fastnet Rock mare found herself in a ‘tooth and nail’ battle with another Fastnet Rock, the British-bred gelding Buckaroo as the pair went after the leading duo, the French-bred Eliyass and the Irish-bred Duke De Sessa over the closing stages of the 2,000m feature.

The Chris Waller-trained pair erased their six-length deficit to the leaders, swapping the lead before Via Sistina held a head advantage in the final few strides to complete the quinella for the Waller stable.

The Le Havre gelding Eliyass was two lengths away in third as the 2022 Kilternan Stakes winner Duke De Sessa, when trained by Dermot Weld, remained a neck away in fourth.

True form

“She was fantastic today. Her run last start (fifth in the Makybe Diva) was so far away from her true form that you could do nothing else other than put a pen through it,” said stable foreman Charlie Duckworth of Via Sistina.

“We were confident that she would bounce back today, and she was tough. Buckaroo is the man on the scene at the moment and he was going for three wins in-a-row. He’s dug deep and only been narrowly denied. But ultimately, we knew we had a happy and healthy horse leading into today and that was the difference.” Buckaroo is now set for the Group 1 Caulfield Cup on October 19th for which he is currently the favourite ahead of Eliyass, whereas Via Sistina, though holding entries for a number of feature recess, looks likely to contest the Cox Plate seven days later.

She is on the second line of betting behind the equal-favourites, Mr Brightside, Pride Of Jenni and the colt Broadsiding.

THE Sea The Stars gelding Just Fine led home an Irish-bred first-four in Saturday’s Group 3 Bart Cummings over 2,520 metres to claim automatic entry into the A$8.56 million Melbourne Cup.

In classic Gai Waterhouse-style, the seven-year-old, co-trained with Adrian Bott, led all the way and managed to just hang on as his pursuers got within a head.

Second was the Zoffany gelding Point King ahead of the Casamento gelding Amade, with the race favourite Berkshire Breeze, by Mastercraftsman, fourth.

“I just knew today that you really have to try hard to beat him,” said Waterhouse. “So, it has just been a matter of building, getting his fitness level right there.

“He’s got lovely cruising speed and that’s (jockey) Jordan (Childs) at his best. When he gets going on a front runner, he’s very effective.”

A 300,000gns purchase at the 2022 Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale, Just Fine is part-owned by the micro-share syndicate group MyRacehorse in which owners buy ‘units’ for a single up-front payment, the percentages of which can be as small as 0.025%, 0.01% or 0.001% of the whole horse.

“They’re going to have a lot of fun running with him in our biggest race, what a wonderful thing,” added Waterhouse of the MyRacehorse syndicate.

“It happens nowhere in the world, I can tell you, where people from all different walks of life can have a share in a horse for not much money, be able to come here on the first Tuesday in November and maybe win a multi-million-dollar race.”

THE former Joseph O’Brien-trained Warnie, a winner of the Listed Coolmore Stud Churchill Stakes at Tipperary just over a year ago, has won on debut in Australia, taking out the first at Flemington on Saturday, a benchmark-78 handicap over 1,200 metres.

In a four-way photo, jockey Ethan Brown got the result on the Highland Reel colt for trainer Ciaron Maher. “60kgs and he was exposed the whole way,” said Brown.

“There’s a lot to like about that win. He’ll get further too.”

TAB Epsom (Group 1 Handicap)

A RUNNER-UP in both the Randwick Guineas and Australian Derby to the late Riff Rocket, the Tavistock gelding Ceolwulf stepped out of the shadows on Saturday, landing a first Group 1 in the Epsom over the Randwick mile.

The Joe Pride-trained chance, sent out a $4 favourite in an open race, was in the back third of the field approaching the bend. Jockey Chad Scofield’s choice to get onto the back of Tom Kitten proved wisest as the Harry Angel gelding brought Ceolwulf to a point from which Scofield launched for the win.

“It’s a good thrill. I was very confident today, but an Epsom is a really hard race to win,” recounted Schofield.

“You need everything to go right. I didn’t feel everything quite went perfectly, I wasn’t in a great spot. I thought I’d be much closer than where I was and the pace was quite muddling, but one good aspect of that was that I was a bit wide and able to flow.

“I was really blown away by his turn of foot. I know he had 54kgs, but he put the race away very quickly. As soon as I clicked him up, I was confident I was the winner immediately. He had a blistering turn of foot.”

Tom Kitten ran on well to claim second as the Wootton Bassett horse Royal Patronage took third.

Ceolwulf, has now won three of his 13 starts, having cost Pride NZ$170,000 at the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run sale.

“He’s got a great engine,” said Pride. “I see it every time he runs, the way he recovers from races and gallops on the training track. He’s an amazing athlete and, as I say, the best is yet to come.”

Pride is not settled on Ceowulf’s next move though suggested he return to Randwick on October 19th; “I haven’t ruled out coming back here for the (Group 1, A$5 million) King Charles (1,600 metres). There’s a lot of options.”

Darley Flight Stakes (Group 1)

AUTUMN Glow looked a ‘moral’ in the Group 1 Flight Stakes. She was set to start favourite, until news broke the day before the race that the unbeaten filly was scratched. Bone chips in the knee have ruled her until the autumn.

With the race opening up and two more scratchings reducing the field to six, the Snitzel filly Lady Shenandoah took full advantage.

Powering over the top of her rivals once straightening up, she won, eased down, by three lengths. Second was the Brutal filly Harlem Queen just ahead of the race favourite Snow In May, by The Autumn Sun.

A A$525,000 purchase for Hermitage Thoroughbreds at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Lady Shenandoah has two wins and two placings in four starts for Chris Waller with apprentice Zac Lloyd having taken the ride.

“Autumn Glow (also trained by Waller), she’s a star. But this little girl here is pretty good too,” said Chris Waller.

“Guy (Mulcaster) and I, we got our heads together and said at the sales, ‘this is a Flight Stakes-type filly’. She didn’t win in Brisbane and I remember saying after the race, ‘we’ll win the Flight Stakes’. That was before Autumn Glow started. So we got that one right.”

James Squire Metropolitan (Group 1 Handicap)

THE lightweights dominated the handicap conditions of the Group 1 Metropolitan at Randwick on Saturday.

The Galileo gelding Land Legend with 51kgs and the Kingman filly Zardozi with 52kgs came together with 300 metres remaining in the 2,400 metre feature to clear out from their rivals and run one-two with four-lengths to third, the Unusual Suspect gelding Unusual Legacy.

Neck and neck, the length of the straight, only a bob of the head could separate the pair, as the former James Ferguson-trained Land Legend took his first win for Waller, though second in Australia.

“The writing was on the wall when he won a (Randwick) St Leger. Mr Ho (owner) has taken his time with him, James Ferguson handed the reins over to us, and he’s just been given plenty of time,” said Waller. “We picked this race out six months ago and said we’ll do it third-up and make sure we’ve still got something left for the rest of the spring.” The horse was bought for €100,000 at the 2021 Arqana October Yearling Sale by Avenue Bloodstock,. This win was also a maiden Group 1 for jockey Reece Jones. “I’ve kind of waited my turn. I’m not the emotional type, but this is fantastic.”