Benedetta gets her Group 1 with fine Goodwood performance
Jason Warren’s mare becomes the second Group 1 winner for Yarraman Park’s rising star Hellbent
Benedetta (Hellbent) brought up a treble of doubles as she atoned for a run of top-tier frustration by becoming the first mare in 11 years to win Adelaide’s marquee sprint, The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday.
The four-year-old’s success under 55 kilograms in the set weights feature gave Yarraman’s second-string sire Hellbent (I Am Invincible) his second Group 1 success, following on from Magic Time’s win in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in November, before adding a second top-flight win to her record when she won Randwick’s All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) last month.
Benedetta brought a second Group 1 for Jason Warren, and completed a black-type double for the Mornington trainer on Saturday’s card following the win of Flyer (Exceedance) in the David Coles AM Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m).
And after Adelaide native Jamie Kah had waited so long to win her first hometown Group 1, and she completed the feat in last week’s South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) on Coco Sun (The Autumn Sun), but after Saturday’s win she now has two to her name – among 14 in total – after a superb ride on Benedetta.
Bred by Adelaide boutique breeders Brenton and Liz Parker, and bought from Mill Park Stud’s draft at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale of 2021 by Eales Racing – whose colours she bears – for $75,000, Benedetta has now won eight of 15 starts and more than $1.7 million.
She had come close on the big stage earlier this campaign in her first three attempts at Group 1 level, with fourths in the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) and the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), before a last-start third in Morphettville’s Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
In her first start in blinkers on Saturday, however, she broke through in impressive fashion despite easing slightly in betting to start a $6 third-favourite for the $1 million feature.
Kah settled the mare just off the pace in sixth spot from barrier three, and after she pushed through a narrow gap halfway down the straight, Benedetta hit the front at the 100 metres and staved off the late challenge of Phillip Stokes’s longshot Stretan Angel (Harry Angel, $31) to win by 0.2 lengths.
Climbing Star (Zoustar, $20) took third 1.6 lengths off the winner, having claimed top-level success at her previous start in the Robert Sangster Stakes. I Am Me (I Am Invincible), the $5.50 second-favourite, held on for fourth, ahead of Perth raider Oscar’s Fortune (Rich Enuff, $6.50).
The West Australian of whom most was expected – Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni) – was disappointing as a $4.40 favourite in her last start for trainer Simon Miller before being transferred to Annabel Neasham. The four-year-old settled near the rear after being slowly away, and dawdled on an inside course to finish 12th.
All credit went to Benedetta – the first mare to win the Goodwood since Platelet (Strategic) in 2013 – for a breakthrough win that left Warren wiping away tears.
“I’m relieved to be honest. Just wanted to get the job done for the horse and she’s been so gallant in defeat in good races,” he said.
“Just to get that Group 1 under the belt is a big relief.”
As is often seen, while the addition of blinkers may have helped Benedetta in the run, they proved something of an impediment for Kah to overcome once the mare hit the front – and appeared to wait for the herd rather than draw away from it.
“She just got to the front a touch soon and she just waited,” Kah said. “With the blinkers on for the first time she couldn’t see anything around her. She was good once she could feel the horse [Stretan Angel] coming to her again.
“Everything just happened perfectly for us. She’s a horse with so much talent and she’s just had things not go her way. Today it panned out perfectly for her.”
Warren said another Group 1 was on the radar for Benedetta, in Eagle Farm’s $3 million Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) on June 15.
Hellbent, who’ll stand again at Yarraman this year for $38,500 (inc GST) after a fee rise from $22,000 (inc GST) last season, has now reached an impressive career-high 12th – with just three crops racing – on the Australian general sires’ table, headed by his father and barnmate I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
The 11-year-old has 73 winners from 171 runners this term including four stakes winners. Overall, he has 109 winners from 203 runners, including five stakes victors.
Benedetta (4 m Hellbent – Whatalovelyday by Domesday) is the third and best foal out of Brisbane city winner Whatalovelyday (Domesday), whose year-older daughter Whatafox (Foxwedge) is Group 2-placed.
Whatalovelyday’s yearling colt by King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) was bought by Bjorn Baker and Clarke Bloodstock for $160,000 from the Mill Park Stud draft at this year’s Inglis Premier sale.
The mare missed to Wild Ruler (Snitzel) in 2022, but in news that looked especially glorious on Saturday night, she is back in foal to Hellbent.
Benedetta has also provided another feather in the cap for the Hunter Valley’s Willow Park Stud.
She is the third Group 1 winner in four months from mares sold by Willow Park. This follows successes from Quintessa (Shamus Award) in January’s Levin Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) at Trentham, and by the exciting two-year-old Velocious (Written Tycoon) in Ellerslie’s Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) in March.
Willow Park’s Glenn Burrows told ANZ there had now been 11 stakes winners in the past 11 months out of mares sold by the stud.