Sportsbet Caulfield Cup (Group 1)

THE former Dermot Weld-trained Duke De Sessa has won Saturday’s A$5 million Caulfield Cup over 2,400 metres, delivering trainer Ciaron Maher a second win in the race.

On a track rated a ‘slow 6’, the Lope De Vega gelding, still carrying Maurice Regan’s Newtown Anner Stud colours and with Harry Coffey up, relished the conditions to bounce to the front and lead out of the straight.

Giving way to Deny Knowledge, Coffey took the trail before the pressure built at the 800m mark. Sensing that Land Legend was moving up on his hip, Duke De Sessa rolled out from behind the leader to amp-up the tempo.

Leading the 18-horse field into the straight, Coffey went for broke as the backmarkers struggled to make ground in the sluggish conditions, the favourite Buckaroo an exception. Spotting the leader eight lengths, the Fastnet Rock gelding ran Duke De Sessa to a just over a length on the line, the runner-up prize and no Melbourne Cup penalty, Buckaroo’s reward. Third was the French-bred Galileo gelding Land Legend, who arrived in Australia 12 months earlier under the care of James Ferguson.

Second and third, both trained by Chris Waller, will go on to the Melbourne Cup, with Buckaroo now the clear second favourite behind Jan Brueghel.

Not so the winner. “I don’t reckon he’ll run two miles,” said Maher of why Duke De Sessa was not in the Melbourne Cup entries. “His target was the Caulfield Cup.”

Stole the show

With trainer Ciaron Maher in Sydney overseeing his Everest and King Charles III runners, jockey Harry Coffey stole the show, with many supporters aware of the struggle he has had throughout his career having been born with Cystic Fibrosis.

“How am I feeling? Spectacular,” said Coffey post-race on his 29th birthday. “When I let rip, I thought maybe I’d gone too early.

“But one thing you can count on with Ciaron Maher and this amazing team he has, you can back your horses in. They’ll just keep running. I just couldn’t believe it, that he kept running, that the Caulfield Cup was going to have Harry Coffey’s name next to it, it’s just phenomenal.

“It’s not supposed to happen to people like myself. I’m considered a battler. People like to laugh about how I’m a battler and a country boy. But, yeah, not many Caulfield Cups get won by country boys.”

Awareness for CF

Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disorder that causes damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs in the body.

“I do a few little gigs here and there in raising awareness for CF, it’s always something that not only I’ve enjoyed, but I’m also comfortable speaking in front of people,” said Coffey, who credits recent developments in medication for his higher levels of performance.

“I’d be trying to clear mucus off the lungs after my body had been under, you know, serious exertion. So what’s happened now is my lungs are able to be a lot clearer and work a lot better because of new medications. And that’s allowed me to not cough, not to splutter, not be as short of breath. I’ll pull-up now and have a quick blow and come back and I am able to speak to owners and trainers.”

The TAB Everest (Group 1)

THE Pride Of Dubai mare Bella Nipotina sent her earnings into the stratosphere at Randwick on Saturday, collecting more than a million a furlong, as she banked the A$7 million winner’s cheque in the $20 million Group 1 Everest over 1,200 metres, as Randwick hosted a sell-out with 49,117 people on-course.

A pre-race favourite, but who cooled once she had drawn 11 of 11 in the barrier draw, Craig Williams pushed forward but was unable to cross.

Never better than three-wide on the ‘soft 5’ track, it seemed too tough an ask, but tough is what defines Bella Nipotina.

Storm Boy had the rail on the final bend and gave a good show until the 2022 winner Giga Kick hit the front at the 100m mark. Bella Nipotina as the widest runner was right there and strong enough to forge the slightest advantage.

Winning by a head, the seven-year-old mare defeated the Scissor Kick gelding Giga Kick, as the Zoustar colt Growing Empire claimed third in a group of six that hit the line together.

Ride positively

“The plan was simple, we just had to trust ‘Bella’,” said Craig Williams. “We knew from her outside barrier that we were unlikely to get across, but I had to ride her positively and put her into the race.

“There was nothing else we could have done. This was her summit and to get there she was going to have to be tough. I spoke to Ciaron and he said ‘I love the plan, let’s go and do it, let’s execute it. Have faith in her’.”

The win is the first for a mare in the Everest with Bella Nipotina’s earnings of $18.26 million from 10 wins and 25 placings from 55 starts placing her third on the all-time earners list in Australia behind Winx ($26.4 million) and Nature Strip ($20.7 million).

Historic

Having just completed a historic Caulfield Cup/Everest double, trainer Ciaron Maher was a delighted man.

“You know, we thought she was in career best form and she got her conditions to suit. We said at the barrier draw, she’s got an uncanny knack of running very well from any gate. Wide, inside, doesn’t matter. And yes, Craig, beautiful ride.

“You know, to have the balls to do that. She’s a bit like me. She doesn’t like to miss out on a carnival. She’s a beautiful horse to train. She’s been elite for like five years. It’s unbelievable.”

King Charles III Stakes (Group 1)

THE Epsom winner Ceolwulf put in an elite performance to run down the crowd and race favourite Pride Of Jenni, roaring down the outside to win the A$5 million Group 1 King Charles III Stakes over 1,600 metres at Randwick on Saturday by almost a length.

Trained by Joe Pride with Chad Schofield in the saddle, the win at weight-for-age emphasised what a rising star the four-year-old Tavistock gelding is.

“I’m just really grateful to come across a horse like this, the world’s his oyster,” said Pride after the race, formerly known as the George Main Stakes.

The win brought up back-to-back Group 1s over the Randwick mile with Schofield on for both.

“That was breathtaking,” he said. “I thought he was super in the Epsom, but that was even better. He didn’t jump that well, so I had to go to ‘plan B’ and settle a bit further back than I wanted. Once I got him into the clear in the straight, he gave me the most amazing turn of foot.

The new one

“This is probably a changing of the guard. He’s the new one. He’s a machine. We know the stamina he’s got, and now we’re seeing that turn of foot. It’s very rare for a horse to have both of those things, and he’s just the best-tempered horse as well. He’s improving all the time too, which is scary.”

Out of the Shamardal mare Las Brisas, and bred by Cambridge Stud, Ceolwulf was a NZ$170,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale purchase.

Pride, having recovered from the shock of seeing his 2023 Everest winner Think About It suffer a severe bleed in the $2 million Sydney Stakes and fail to finish, was cautious of Ceolwulf’s next step.

“I think I am going to have to put him in the paddock, I don’t think my heart can handle too much more of this,” said Pride. “They can only go so far on one preparation, I’m not making any commitment now.

“There is so much more to come with this horse. I have always wanted to win the Cox Plate and he’s my Cox Plate horse but I will wait a year. It’s great, you know.

“Racing has been dominated by some big stables of late. For our stable to compete, a medium-sized stable of less than 50 horses, to compete on the big stage here, I’m very proud, it’s big team effort.”

A DECISION on a definite start for Yulong’s 2.7million guineas mare Via Sistina in the Cox Plate was only made on Thursday following the mare’s dumping of James McDonald on the Moonee Valley turf two days earlier. She pleased Chris Waller in training and vets were also satisfied.

At Tuesday morning’s traditional ‘breakfast with the best’, where horses entered for Saturday’s Cox Plate meeting can use the course proper, what was meant to be a standard piece of work got out of hand when a rouge hind-leg bandage worked loose, causing the Irish-bred Via Sistina to stumble, dislodging McDonald, after which she galloped riderless for two laps before being caught.

“She’s actually remarkably well,” said trainer Chris Waller. “There’s no blood, no skin off. Our vet has been over her thoroughly and can’t find anything. We take comfort in that nothing has gone tragically wrong.”

Cleared of injury

James McDonald was also cleared of injury though remarked: “I’ve got a little bit of a sore shoulder, as you’d probably expect falling that way, not too bad, could’ve been a lot worse.”

At the morning’s conclusion, the barrier draw was completed for the 2,050 metre Group 1, where nine starters will contest the A$5 million feature. The Mitsumasa Nakauchi-trained Japanese horse by Deep Impact, Prognosis (barrier 5) is currently a $3 favourite, ahead of Pride Of Jenni (7), with Via Sistina (4) kept safe on the third line of betting.

Onesmoothoperator in Geelong

THE Brian Ellison-trained Onesmoothoperator has won Wednesday’s 137th edition of the Geelong Cup, having powered away from the field in the closing stages to win by three lengths in the A$500,000 Group 3 feature over 2,400 metres.

“I’ve been here a few times and had a few bits of bad luck, but this horse has been brilliant,” said Ellison. “I said to Craig (Williams), ‘He’s not your normal stayer, he’s got lots of speed’. Craig gave him a great ride.” The gelding went through the ring at Tattersalls Goresbridge breeze-up sale from Sherbourne Lodge in 2020, making £140,000.

Melbourne Cup markets reacted by lifting the gelding, presently weighted at 50 kg, in the betting behind Jan Brueghel (54 kg), Vauban (55.5 kg) and Buckaroo (54.5 kg) and equal with Point King (50.5 kg). Three horses have completed the Geelong Cup/Melbourne Cup double; Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010) and Dunaden (2011).