Hinged a Worthy winner of Surround Stakes
Among what was widely considered to be one of the best first season sire crops in recent times, Clear Mountain Fairview resident Worthy Cause (Choisir) may not have hit the Golden Slipper-winning headlines of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), nor that of the four juvenile stakes winners of another first-crop stallion Capitalist (Written Tycoon) when his first foals took the track last term, but with five winners to his name from just seven starters, he ranked at the top of the list for freshman sires when it came to a ratio of winners-to-runners.
His leading juvenile, the five-time Queensland winner Hinged, caught the eye of goliath owners Brae Sokolski and Aziz Kheir when under the care of Michael Nolen, who swooped to secure a controlling share ahead of the promising filly’s three-year-old campaign, and yesterday, on a day when Sokolski and Kheir celebrated no less than three Group 1 winners across Sydney and Melbourne, their faith in the three-year-old was justified, as she captured the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on Randwick’s saturated Heavy 10 surface.
Now in the hands of champion trainer Chris Waller, Hinged travelled behind the early speed and hit the front with 200 metres remaining, before gamely holding off the flying finish of Startantes (Star Turn) to win by a neck.
Her stablemate and race favourite Espiona (Extreme Choice) finished a length and a quarter adrift in third, but was never a danger, while Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Fangirl (Sebring) finished fifth.
“Compared to last year, she has put on about 30 kilos so of the fillies, she’s been the big improver in terms of weight,” Waller said.
“Fangirl and Espiona were both brave. They were giving away a big start and they (leaders) got away with some pretty soft sections from what I was looking at.”
Bred by Dr. Kim McCaster, who purchased her dam Tints (Tycoon Ruler) after she was passed in at the 2012 Magic Millions March Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Hinged made seven starts for Toowoomba trainer Nolen, winning five and finishing runner-up twice, ending her Queensland stint with a three-and-three-quarter-length win at Doomben on July 24.
The filly then followed in the path of another successful formerly Toowoomba-trained star to take the silks of Sokolski’s Yes Bloodstock, that being subsequent three-time Group 1 winner Incentivise (Shamus Award), who was prepared by Steve Tregea to six wins in Queensland before his spring carnival exploits for Peter Moody.
In three spring starts having been transferred to the Waller stable, Hinged opened with an 11th-placed finish in the Dulcify Stakes (Listed, 1500m) at Kembla Grange, but improved on her next outing to trail only Never Been Kissed (Tivaci) in the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) before heading to Melbourne where she ran sixth behind Yearning (Snitzel) in the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Caulfield.
She backed up a seventh-placed finish on her reappearance in the Light Fingers Stakes last time out to claim Group 1 glory at Randwick yesterday.
The win also marked a triumphant return to the elite-level for jockey Brenton Avdulla, who six months ago sustained a fractured neck in a racefall at Randwick.
The rider only returned to raceday action on February 19 at Rosehill, with Hinged one of four rides on yesterday’s Group 1 Randwick card for Avdulla.
“Pretty emotional week,” Avdulla said, who spoke of the mental challenges in making a full recovery.
“It’s been well documented through the week about my comeback, but six months ago you are thinking, ‘is that all it?’
“That bit of self-doubt that you might not come back and if you do come back, how are you going to come back? Are you coming back at your best?
“It wasn’t until the last couple of weeks I really started to feel good. I’m very thankful to Chris, I think that’s my third Group 1 winner for him now. James (McDonald) can’t ride them all.”
The first live foal out of 12-time winner Tints, Hinged is one of three fillies from the mare, who in addition to a two-year-old sister to Hinged has a yearling by the late stallion Easy Rocking (Barathea), while she returned to Worthy Cause last spring.
Having covered 128 mares and produced 105 live foals in his first four crops, Worthy Cause covered a record book of 50 mares at Clear Mountain Fairview, where he stood for a fee of $5,500 (inc GST).
Sokolski had just the race prior celebrated another Group 1 winner at Randwick, as Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Verry Elleegant (Zed) showed her prowess over a sharper trip with a victory in yesterday’s Chipping Norton Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
The Waller-trained Verry Elleegant, who carries the silks of former trainer Nick Bishara, showed no ill-effects from her two-mile triumph at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November, and scored second-up yesterday having run seventh in the Apollo Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) a fortnight ago.
The six-year-old turned widest before asserting her dominance, but had to hold off the late challenge of the Bjorn Baker-trained She’s Ideel (Dundeel) to win by a head. The Team Hawkes-trained Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Angel Of Truth (Animal Kingdom) led the field the majority of the trip, but faded into third.
The win was Verry Elleegant’s 11th Group 1 success, as she retained the Chipping Norton Stakes crown she won a year ago, with her feats prompted trainer Chris Waller to label her ‘freakish’.
“She’s a real piece of work, fights like a tiger,” Waller said. “I thought the second horse might have had us at the 100-metre mark but that’s when the Verry Elleegant qualities pop in and she lifts to another level and that’s just her. She is in for a great prep.
“There are no other words for it, but she is freakish.”
Verry Elleegant will now press on in an attempt to hold on to her Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) crown, a race in which she finished second to British raider Adeyybb (Pivotal), before being beaten by that rival in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
“Obviously the All-Star Mile was there and that might have been back on the cards had they not run today and that’s how things can change,” Waller added.
“(But it) was always the plan (to go to) the Ranvet, and then the Queen Elizabeth so three weeks-three weeks. It just works out perfectly.”