Flemington

TAB Turnbull Stakes (Group 1)

THE bookmakers got a ‘free hit’ in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington on Saturday when the 20/1 chance Smokin’ Romans won by a length and a half with the French-bred Gold Trip, favourite for the race, mired in fifth place.

Ridden by Ethan Brown for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, the Ghibellines gelding took up a position behind the Sydney Cup winner Knights Order at the front.

With half of the 2,000-metre race done, the first four would remain the first four at race’s end. With a touch more brilliance, Smokin’ Romans overhauled Knights Order who drifted to fourth as the Juddmonte-owned Maximal, by Galileo, filled second ahead of the Tavistock gelding Young Werther.

Tractable

“He is just so easy this horse, he’s very tractable in the run,” said Brown.

“He gave me a lovely ride throughout. He’s taken a lot of improvement from last start. I thought he was a bit overlooked today and he has defied his odds to win.”

Going around at 55.5 kilograms in the Turnbull Stakes, but unable to be re-handicapped for the Cups due to the race’s conditions, Smokin’ Romans will find himself near the top of markets as he drops to 51.5 kilograms for the Caulfield Cup on 15th October.

“I think Jamie Kah will ride him,” said co-trainer Ciaron Maher with Brown unable to make the weight. “He’s got the light weight and there’s only a few and I’d say she’d be pretty happy to get on after today.”

Everest awaits Giga

Earlier on the Flemington Saturday card Giga Kick improved his perfect record to an undefeated four starts with a strong performance in the Group 2 Danehill Stakes.

Trained by former jumps jockey Clayton Douglas, Giga Kick, by the Redoute’s Choice horse Scissor Kick, had all but Buenos Noches covered, the Supido colt pressuring him right to the line to fail by half-head as the Capitalist colt Cannonball was nearly two lengths away in third.

“What a horse,” said Douglas who trained his first runner in 2020 having won the Warrnambool Grand Annual Steeplechase three times as a jockey. “Six weeks between runs, he was probably feeling it late in that contest, but it was a great effort.

“He’s done so well and I think he’s got nice improvement to come. He’s still big enough and still got plenty in the tank. We’ll just see how he pulls up, but I’m really happy with how he is and it was good to get the job done today.”

As the dust settled post-race, Tuesday saw the announcement that Giga Kick would fill James Harron’s slot for the A$15 million Everest.

Ruled out

Importantly Craig Williams, who rode Giga Kick at Flemington has accepted the ride in the Everest, thus ruling himself out of any rides on Caulfield Cup day.

“Craig is very bullish about Giga Kick and believes he can be competitive in The Everest,” said Harron.

“I’ve also done business with (owner) Jonathon (Munz) over the years and we raced (multiple Group 1 winner) King’s Legacy together. I know Jonathon also has a lot of belief in Giga Kick so it’s a good fit for everyone.”

GRAHAME Begg will have his first runner in the Melbourne Cup after his seven-year-old mare Lunar Flare won the Bart Cummings at Flemington on Saturday.

The listed 2,150-metre event carries a ballot free entry into the Cup with the winner by the Irish-bred 2013 Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente. She will carry 51.5 kilograms having been penalised a half-kilo for the win.

“It will be my first Melbourne Cup runner and it’s very exciting, ‘’ said 61-year-old Begg who took over his father Neville’s Randwick stable when the latter took up a contract to train in Hong Kong in 1990. “This year we set out to have her in the Melbourne Cup if she was good enough, now she’s fully qualified so it’s terrific.”

Winning by a half length, Lunar Flare defeated a pair of Irish-bred horses, the Frankel gelding Francesco Guardi and the Galileo horse Interpretation.

Randwick

TAB Epsom (Group 1)

SIX minutes elapsed and still the judges were unable to split Ellsberg and the Irish-bred Top Ranked, the pair locked together as they hit the line in the Group 1 Epsom at Randwick on Saturday. Their dead-heat was just the third in the race’s 156 editions.

Ten faced the starter over the Randwick mile in Saturday’s heavy conditions and on balancing up in the straight the Annabel Neasham-trained Top Ranked looked as though he would overpower his rivals as he got upsides of Hinged. Inside that pair, Ellsberg seemed a lock for third till the Spill The Beans horse fought back to level up on the line as the Worthy Cause mare Hinged was the ‘ham in the sandwich’, a neck away in third.

“Halfway down the straight I thought Hughie (Bowman on Top Ranked) was home and the closer we got to the line I knew I was coming strong and I thought on the post I got him,” said Brenton Avdulla who was on Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou co-trained Ellsberg.

The winning pair both claimed their maiden Group 1 wins, with Top Ranked, formerly trained by James Tate when third in the 2021 Lockinge Stakes, now on a Cox Plate path having come into Saturday’s race with a first-up win in the Bill Ritchie Stakes.

“We always thought he was going to be a really good horse here in Australia and it’s brilliant for Australian Bloodstock to have a horse win a Group 1 in their colours,” said Neasham. “I’d like to go to the Cox Plate now but the question is whether they give him a spot. I think they have to now he has won the Epsom.”

For Ellsberg the path is different with a start in the five-year-olds only race, the ‘newly minted’ A$2 million Five Diamonds at Rosehill over 1,800 metres run in parallel with the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival, his stated target.

“It’s a momentous day for myself,” said Sterling Alexiou of his first Group 1 winner as a trainer.

“It’s a team effort, but to have my name up there now is very satisfying. I thought we won when watching the slow motion reply. We thought he was a fringe Group 1 horse and to tell you the truth this race really wasn’t in our sights until Tuesday morning when the race came up a bit thin.”

Darley Flight Stakes (Group 1)

UNBEATEN this preparation, Zougotcha capped off her impeccable form to land three of the four legs of Sydney’s Princess’ Series culminating in Saturday’s Group 1 Darley Flight Stakes over 1,600 metres.

“She’s a quality filly and she showed her qualities today popping into the box seat. They only went slow and she didn’t give much else a chance,” said jockey James McDonald. “I think she’s got plenty of upside to be fair because as you guys have seen she’s gotten better and better.”

Purchased for A$500,000 at the Inglis Easter Yearling sale, the daughter of Zoustar, incidentally also trained by Waller, came into the race strongly at the top of the straight to take the inside line of those ahead before clearing out to a two-length victory from the Extreme Choice filly She’s Extreme and North Star Lass, also by Zoustar.

Waller has ruled out a trip to Caulfield for the 1000 Guineas. “If you look after them, they look after you, so I would say that will be her last run of the spring,” the trainer said.

“We had a pretty short run up from the winter in Queensland, so we don’t need to find out where the end is. We will give her a bit of a break and look forward to the autumn.”

Furphy Metropolitan (Group 1)

CHRIS Waller completed a Group 1 double at Randwick after No Compromise prevailed in a tight finish to the Metropolitan over 2,400 metres.

Ridden by Tommy Berry the New Zealand-bred Pins gelding snuck through on the inside as five horses hit the line within a length, landing Waller his fifth Metropolitan. Second a nose away was the Leroidesanimaux gelding Le Don De Vie just ahead of the So You Think mare Realm Of Flowers in third.

“He’s been building up to that, he’s been a bit unlucky,” said Waller. “He doesn’t like the real wet tracks. Today, even though it’s heavy, they are getting through it better than they were in the autumn and that was a help to him. I think that 2,400 metres is the cap on his distance range as he showed today.” Asked if No Compromise would contest the Caulfield Cup over the same distance in two weeks Waller was not convinced. “He might need to grow a few lengths over the next few weeks to do that.”

Bred at Gordon Cunningham’s Curraghmore in New Zealand, No Compromise, a NZ$40,000 Karaka yearling buy in 2018 and a half-brother to the multiple Group 1 winner Tofane, has now won nearly A$900,000 in stakes, with this his maiden Group 1 win, his fifth in Australia since being sent to Chris Waller in 2021.