Dubai Honour shines in Queen Elizabeth Stakes romp

Listen

Haggas and Marquand break Australian hearts once again as son of Pride Of Dubai grabs his second Australian Group 1

Trainer William Haggas and jockey Tom Marquand shattered Australian hearts once again as Dubai Honour (Pride Of Dubai) produced a fine display to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Randwick yesterday, denying Godolphin’s Anamoe (Street Boss) his tenth triumph at elite-level. 

Dubai Honour was earmarked as a possible threat to Anamoe’s perfect preparation, when he landed the Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) when fresh off the plane from the UK. The ensuing weeks saw the Queen Elizabeth billed as a mouth-watering clash between two top-class horses.  

Marquand was back on board Dubai Honour, having missed out on his first-up victory due to injury, and he placed the gelding in the midfield, happy to bide his time as Anamoe was slotted in behind the leaders. 

As the field swung into the straight, Marquand began to get to work on Dubai Honour, with McDonald sitting motionless on Anamoe. However, the Haggas-trained gelding responded in fine style and the clash the racing public had hoped for came to fruition for two strides, before Dubai Honour unleashed past the nine-time Group 1 winner, with a searing run down the centre of the track to finish two-and-a-quarter-lengths ahead of Mo’unga (Savabeel), who finished like a steam train to deny Anamoe second place by a nose. 

Haggas and Marquand have become accustomed to beating Australian superstars in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with Addeybb (Pivotal) having denied Verry Ellegaant (Zed) success in the Group 1 in 2020 and 2021. 

Haggas cut a delighted figure following the gelding’s win in the Group 1, emphasising the high regard he holds the gelding in. 

“Don’t underestimate him, he’s a pretty good horse. He was never quite right last year, he was boxing against some good horses; top, top horses,” said Haggas. “The horse is in a great frame of mind, he looks great. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

“He relaxed very well and I knew when he relaxed well, he would pick up and he picked up well. Anamoe is a great horse, take nothing away from him, but this horse has come forward for being here and he’s won well today.”

Haggas said Dubai Honour would now make his way home, but a whistlestop in Hong Kong for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) at Sha Tin on April 4 is looking likely for the gelding. 

“We’re very keen to go to Hong Kong now on the way home and run him at the end of Day 4 in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Then we’ll take him back to England and regroup. As far as I’m concerned he’s done his job today.”

Meanwhile, Marquand said he had moments of doubt that he would make it back to the races after his fall at Randwick in February which kept him on the sidelines for just over a month. 

“To be honest it’s a bit surreal. It feels like yesterday that I was – not that I can remember it! – laid up in hospital thinking that the game was over and I’ll be missing this chap,” said the winning jockey. 

“It was a tough one to stomach. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but when you’ve got targets you can work hard and it makes it easy to keep your head down. I was probably guilty at points of thinking it’s not going to happen, it’s not meant to be. What a game horse racing is.”

Meanwhile, Cummings was happy to admit that Anamoe had been beaten by a better horse in the afternoon and said the Godolphin team would sit down and discuss the Royal Ascot plans for the four-year-old. 

Bred by Macha Bloodstock/Meridian International, Dubai Honour (5 g ex Mondelice by Montjeu) was purchased by his owner Rabbah Bloodstock for 110,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2019. He is out of unraced mare Mondelice (Montjeu). 

Mondelice herself is a half-sister to French Group 3 winner Last Kingdom (Frankel) and stakes-placed filly Ivyetsu (Tapit). 

Dubai Honour is from the first northern hemisphere crop of Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), who shuttled to Coolmore’s Irish base for three seasons. Bella Nipotina, who runs in the inaugural edition of The Quokka (1200m) next weekend, is the stallion’s only other elite-level winner.  

Pride Of Dubai’s total winning haul sits at 205 from 377 starters and he commanded a fee of $16,500 (inc GST) last year. 

Atishu Queen of Randwick with first Group 1 win

The Chris Waller-trained Atishu (Savabeel) tasted her first success at the top-level at Randwick yesterday as she proved far too good for her rivals in the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and in doing so became the 31st Group 1 winner for Waikato Stud’s headline sire Savabeel (Zabeel). 

Atishu scored convincingly by two and a half lengths over the gallant Hope In Your Heart (Dundeel), with More Secrets (More Than Ready) out-running her $101 odds to finish third another half a length away. 

Having won the Matriarch Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) last November, the Bill Ritchie Handicap (Gr 3, 1400m) in 2021 and a brace of Listed races when she was trained by Stephen Marsh in New Zealand, a Group 1 was the missing piece of the puzzle on the mare’s CV and Waller was delighted to see her clinch that milestone yesterday. 

“It’s not all about the boom horses, it’s the late developers as well and that’s the beauty of spring and autumn you can see things change a lot. To her credit she didn’t have a lot go her way in the spring. She’s got her Group 1 today,” said Waller, speaking after the race. 

“It was a great return. That day she had a wide draw and today she had a perfect draw and Nash [Rawiller] rode her accordingly. Just got her out in a nice spot and switched her off and had a saloon passage through and it was pretty to watch.

“She stood flat-footed in the barriers a few times. She’s enjoying her racing, she’s wanting to be there and it showed at the 300 metres today how serious she is about being a racehorse.”

Purchased by Albert Bosma’s Go Bloodstock for NZ$260,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka National Yearling Sale, Atishu (6 m Savabeel – Posy by No Excuse Needed) is out of dual-winning mare Posy (No Excuse Needed), making her a sister to the Group 3 winner Mazolino. 

Posy herself is a sister to the multiple Group 1-winning Champion filly Daffodil and she is herself the dam of stakes-placed trio Grand De Flora (Savabeel), Grand Bouquet (Savabeel) and Snowdrop (Pins). 

Posy produced a filly by Savabeel (Zabeel) in 2020, before slipping to the same stallion in 2022 and has most recently been served by Savabeel’s son and barnmate Noverre last year. 

Savabeel enjoyed a brilliant afternoon last weekend as I Wish I Win took the TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Major Beel landed the Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) and the stallion is sitting second behind I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) in the race to be crowned Australia’s Champion Sire by earnings. 

Kristilli impresses in the Percy Sykes

Trainer Annabel Neasham had made no secret of the high regard she held Kristilli (Hellbent) in, and yesterday the filly lived up to her trainer’s lofty expectations when she produced an impressive performance to win the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick. 

Last seen finishing second behind the Gary Portelli-trained Kimochi (Brave Smash) at Randwick-Kensington and with Joao Moreira on board, the filly was able to reverse the form with that filly, coming home a length and three-quarters ahead of Tiz Invincible, a daughter of Hellbent’s father, I Am Invincible. Kimochi, who is by Hellbent and I Am Invincible’s (Invincible Spirit) new barnmate Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom), was another head away in third. 

The filly was purchased by her trainer and Brian McGuire for $200,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale from the Yarraman Park Stud draft and she races in the colours of racing personality and bloodstock expert Lizzie Jelfs.

“Lizzie’s one of my best mates so to win in her colours, it was pretty heart in mouth. It wasn’t an easy watch, she did everything wrong she could do,” said Neasham. “But to still win it was very exciting and this is what we’re doing it for. 

“Lizzie’s keen to get more and more people involved in racing and she’s done a great job of getting new people to our stable so hopefully more to follow. We’ve got a pretty exciting filly here.”

The trainer said the ownership group originally decided to swerve the Group 2, but after the filly emerged from her debut in such good form they decided to put the Percy Sykes back on the table. 

“They’re a great bunch of owners, but they were getting a bit over excited so I poured the cold water on them and said we’re not going to go to the Percy Sykes, she’s too green. But actually she came out of it [her debut] really well and she worked really well on Tuesday morning, so it was a bit of a late decision but we decided to accept. She’s just so exciting.” 

Neasham has been enjoying an incredible season with her juveniles, with the trainer having saddled eight winners in total and Kristilli joins Learning To Fly (Justify) and last weekend’s Kindergarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Libertad (Russian Revolution) as the stable’s other stakes-winning juveniles this season. 

Kristilli (2 f ex Sognani by Magic Albert) is out of dual-winning Magic Albert (Zeditave) mare Sognani making the filly a half-sister to two time-winning filly Hot Puss (Press Statement). Further back, this is the same family as Group 2 winner She Will Be Loved (Strategic). 

Neasham and Jelfs reinvested into the family at this year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, buying Kristilli’s sister for $170,000. Sognani produced a colt by Hellbent in 2022 and was covered by the stallion again last September. 

The victory provided Hellbent (I Am Invincible) with his second stakes winner. Kristilli joins last weekend’s PJ Bell Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Magic Time as the stallion’s other stakes winner. The stallion’s oldest crop are three-year-olds and he has sired 46 winners in total from 102 starters.