Cox Plate on the table for Fangirl
Chris Waller will now consider a tilt at the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) for Fangirl (Sebring), after the mare captured the third Group 1 of her career in yesterday’s King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick.
Sporting the Ingham family’s famous cerise silks, the daughter of Sebring (More Than Ready) produced a commanding performance to beat multiple Group 1 winner Mr Brightside (Bullbars) by two and three-quarter lengths. The Annabel Neasham-trained My Oberon (Dubawi) came home a head further back in third.
The Ingham family has been a constant on Waller’s training journey, backing the champion horseman before he had won his first major, and he continues to repay their faith.
Waller recalled the moment in England earlier this year when he was on his way to the Racing NSW announcement about the King Charles III Stakes with John Ingham and decided it would be an ideal target for Fangirl.
“I was driving to the event in London where Racing NSW was going to announce the King Charles and I had John Ingham, a part-owner of Fangirl, in the car,” Waller said.
“I told him, ‘I think we can win this race with the mare’.
“It is such a thrill for me personally to train the winner for the Ingham family.
“[Fangirl’s dam] Little Surfer Girl was among the first batch of horses I was given to train by Mr [Bob] Ingham.
“She has kept improving, and that is why I didn’t panic last preparation because I could still see she had maturing and developing to do.”
It has been a fruitful campaign for the five-year-old mare. Kicking off her preparation with a victory in the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on August 19, the mare finished third in the 7 Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 16. Fangirl’s first success at the elite level came in the 2022 Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1850m).
Mr Brightside’s jockey Craig Williams said he was pleased with the gelding’s performance, despite the six-year-old tasting loss for the first time this season.
“At the top of the turn I wasn’t going well. It just shows you what type of horse he is,” Williams said.
“If he pulls up well, he’ll obviously go to the Cox Plate. The way he went today, he will be looking forward to the extra distance.”
Fangirl (5 m Sebring – Little Surfer Girl by Encosta De Lago) is the best of four winners from six to race out of the multiple Listed winner Little Surfer Girl (Encosta De Lago)
Bob Ingham purchased Little Surfer Girl for $1.5 million from the Coolmore Stud draft at the 2008 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
The mare was the lone stakes winner out of the multiple Group 1 winner Special Harmony (Spinning World).
In 2022, Little Surfer Girl produced a filly by Coolmore Stud shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) and has recently produced a colt by his barnmate Home Affairs (I Am Invincible).