Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Group 1)

TO suggest a form slump from Nature Strip would be doing Coolangatta a disservice. The Written Tycoon filly’s Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes win was outstanding at Flemington last Saturday.

Racing into the breeze with the leader to her inside, Coolangatta improved when asked by Jamie Kah, powering to the line to post a half-length win from the fast finishing Savabeel gelding I Wish I Win who was last with 150 metres to run.

Franking the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace training performance, Coolangatta’s stablemate ran third, the Pride Of Dubai filly Bella Nipotina.

“I’ve said it in my interviews leading up to this race, I thought she’d reached her peak last prep (in winning the Moir Stakes) and I thought it was still a very good peak,” said Kah.

“I didn’t see her improving that much more, but she’s just come back better and bigger and stronger. I thought she would run second today, honestly. I didn’t think she would be able to beat Nature Strip.

Amazing horse

“The race did shape out for her, there was pressure early. But she is half the size of him (Nature Strip) and she just does things she shouldn’t do. She is just an amazing horse.”

Coolangatta now joins an elite group of nine other horses, including Black Caviar and Nature Strip to have won the only two 1,000-metre Group 1 sprints in Australia, the Lightning and Moir Stakes.

“Unbelievable, she was so impressive,” said David Eustice. She travelled into it so well. She’s had a faultless prep. We were really confident she’d improved.

“Physically she’s bigger and stronger. She’s heavier, and we thought she’d improved from the spring to now and from two to three.

“From here, the dream would be Royal Ascot for everyone involved. She’s shown she likes the straight and I think everyone in the group would be keen to go there.”

A A$280,000 Gold Coast Magic Millions yearling, Coolangatta has now won five of eight, missing a place just once.

Off his best

For Nature Strip it was an uncharacteristic sixth, two and a half lengths from the winner. “He’s five to 10% off his best,” said trainer Chris Waller.

“There’s nothing to hide. James said he felt the track, but I think the track is perfect (it was rated a good 3). Maybe he’s looking for a little more rain but that’s the only thing we could say at this stage,” added Waller who outlined how thorough the team would be with their stable star, a winner of 22 races and A$20 million.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him but I doubt you’ll see him run over 1,000 metres in the autumn. I’d say he’ll go straight to 1,200 metres but only if he’s 100%.

JAMES Cumming’s team of Godolphin two-year-olds continue to chalk-up feature juvenile race wins.

Having won both Blue Diamond Preludes a week earlier in Melbourne with the colt Barber by Exceed And Excel and the Brazen Beau filly Exploring, the team won the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill with the Exceed And Excel colt Cylinder on Saturday.

“He has developed, grown a bit, and is more mature this time. I think he has what it takes to keep improving and get to the level required to be competitive in the Slipper in four weeks,” said Cummings after the race.

He may well be joined in the Golden Slipper by Barber who heads into today’s Blue Diamond Stakes as the favourite.

THE Irish-bred King Frankel made it four wins from five starts in Australia, winning the Listed Parramatta Stakes first-up over 1,900 metres at Rosehill on Saturday.

The 280,000 guineas Tattersalls October yearling was initially trained by Mark Johnston but is now in the care of Mark Newnham. Owned by Darby Racing, the team has high hopes for the autumn.

“He might come back here for the Sky High in three weeks, and then it will either be the (Group 1) Tancred (Stakes) or the Manion Cup into the (Group 1) Sydney Cup, fourth up,” said Newham.

Racing NSW Quarantine centre ready for Europeans

ALCOHOL Free headlines a record 16-horse contingent due to arrive in Sydney today and stabled at Canterbury in preparation for the Sydney Autumn Carnival and The Championships at Randwick in April.

Having been bought for a staggering 5.4 million guineas by Yulong Stud, Alcohol Free will be joining the yard of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. “She is pretty versatile and has performed at various distances at the top level in England,” said Adrian Bott. “We will see how she settles in when she arrives at Canterbury and then decide on a race programme.”

Joseph O’Brien is making his first trip to Sydney. The stable is bringing Cleveland, Raise You, Baron Samedi, Statement and Temple Of Artemis while William Haggas is planning to send Dubai Honour, Purplepay, Earl Of Tyrone and Protagonist.

New Zealand

WHILE feature racing continued at Pukekohe Park, just south of Auckland on Saturday, many in New Zealand were dealing with the after affects of Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle that had hit the North Island earlier in the week.

Areas around Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne were amongst the hardest hit as reports list 11 confirmed dead, over 1,000 people still uncontactable and an estimated damage bill in the billions.

The Hawke’s Bay racecourse has been turned into a marshalling post for the community, helping people and animals recover, and providing a base to help clean-up efforts with Sunday’s meeting cancelled.

“Once we had the abandonment, we turned our focus to the support and response, to play our part for Hawke’s Bay, to make sure we’re getting utilised and not sitting idle,” said Hawke’s Bay Racing chief executive Aaron Hamilton.

Relief efforts boosted

At Pukekohe Park, Aquacade proved to be an easy winner of the Group 2 Avondale Cup, after which owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay, the owners of Cambridge Stud, donated their NZ$68,000 of winnings to the relief effort.

Trainer Roger James has been an instigator to help set up a Relief Support fund, so too Te Akau racing who are targeting their huge syndication base, as well as stallion service fees set to be auctioned on New Zealand Bloodstock’s online platform Gavelhouse.

The effort required for the Hawke’s Bay region is vast and people like Hollie Wynyard, a trainer who turned up with a truck full of hay, pet food for the smaller animals and blankets typify the urgency of action required.