History for Fierce Impact as Rothfire stands tall in Rose prep
Japanese import completes Toorak Handicap, Cantala Stakes, Makybe Diva Stakes treble as Queenslander sweeps into Sydney
Fierce Impact became the first horse, in successive seasons, to claim Melbourne’s spring Group 1 mile treble and continued jockey Mark Zahra’s stellar start to the 2020-21 season when he won yesterday’s incident packed Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington.
The Matthew Smith-trained Japanese-bred son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) had completed the Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) and Cantala Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) double last spring – a feat achieved only five times previously and – of that quintet – only All Shot (Idomeneo) added a then-Group 2 Craiglee Stakes, two years later, to his resume.
It was a fortuitous 17th Group 1 success for winning jockey Mark Zahra whose luck was in and perhaps deservedly so as it was Fierce Impact, then ridden by Craig Williams, who denied Zahra aboard Fifty Stars (Sea The Stars) by a short half head in the 2019 Cantala Stakes.
Zahra was riding Fierce Impact (7 h Deep Impact – Keiai Gerbera by Smarty Jones) for the first time with Williams committed to Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Vow And Declare (Declaration Of War) and the in-form jockey was similarly fortunate to pick up the mount on Bobbie Lewis Quality (Gr 2, 1200m) victor Zoutori (Zoustar) with his “usual” riders Jamie Kah and Damian Lane both suspended.
“He’s good in a fight. He beat me in a fight here before so it was good to switch and be on his back and on the same side,” Zahra said of Fierce Impact in reference to the Cantala and to yesterday’s duel with the much-spruiked Russian Camelot (Camelot), who was beaten a head at his spring resumption.
Zahra was able to provide Fierce Impact with the perfect run from barrier five while Damien Oliver was caught deep throughout, from gate 14, on Russian Camelot in a race run at a pedestrian tempo after expected leader Gailo Chop (Deportivo) missed the start and Gatting (Hard Spun), who was expected to go forward, was hampered when the winner jumped awkwardly and shifted in abruptly.
It was further disorganised when the 2019 winner Gatting broke down shortly after the start and Miami Bound (Reliable Man), Vow And Declare and Kings Will Dream (Casamento) were severely hampered. The Peter Moody-trained Gatting sustained a fractured shoulder and was euthanised.
Zahra, who has ridden at least one winner at the past five Saturday meetings in Melbourne and snared five stakes wins in that run, conceded the race panned out well for him.
“My horse actually jumped in and took both the leaders out of play and I thought, ‘oh jeez’. I was closer than he normally is but we were going at a hack canter. I got out and I thought I was going to win easier but obviously Russian Camelot’s a very good horse and it took a while to fight him off,” he said.
“The good draw just gave me a soft run and he did the rest. Flemington suits and a bit of rain helped as well.”
Trainer Smith was delighted: “He was super. For a small stable like ours to have a horse like that, it’s fantastic,” he said. “He’s the type of horse that always just does enough. Russian Camelot got the jump on us a bit but given that he’s a horse that only does as much as he has to, it was better that he had something to chase.
“Mark rode him perfectly, judged it perfectly and we couldn’t be happier. These races are so hard to win. You can make all the plans, have the horse ready, draw a good barrier but it all still needs to work out. Russian Camelot is a serious horse, too. To fend him off was something.”
Fierce Impact, stakes-placed from David Simcock’s yard in England, was consigned to the 2017 Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale where Smith purchased him for 120,000 guineas (approx A$221,500). He has now earned A$3,186,330 in his 27 starts.
It was an eventful race for trainer Danny O’Brien. Aside from Russian Camelot undergoing a veterinary examination after being fractious in the barriers and then being condemned to race four-wide without cover, stablemates Vow And Declare and Miami Bound struck severe interference.
Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare recovered to finish a more than encouraging ninth, beaten less than five lengths, while Miami Bound was eased out of the race. A post‑race veterinary examination failed to reveal any abnormalities with the 2019 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner.
All the talk, though, as it’s been for some time, was of South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) hero Russian Camelot. O’Brien said: “He was obviously wide and without cover, but it was probably the only option from that gate and as it was he avoided all that interference when the horse broke down in the back half of the field.
“He was beaten by a top-class miler, who’s a three-time Group 1 winner at a mile now and he’s been beaten a neck, so for a first-up performance for the spring, I don’t think we could ask for much more.
“Without winning, he really couldn’t have gone any better. There wasn’t much speed and I don’t think Damien (Oliver) could have ridden him differently, he did the right thing to worry about the horse and how he was travelling rather than trying to get some cover.
“He was beaten by a good horse in Fierce Impact and I suppose we were the most vulnerable at the mile first-up. Fierce Impact probably put a length on him and he really fought back.”
Both Fierce Impact and Russian Camelot are now likely Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m)-bound although it is sobering to consider that Northerly (Serheed) in 2002 is the only Cox Plate winner, in the past 30 years, to progress via the Makybe Diva (Craiglee) Stakes.
Zoutori (5 g Zoustar – Atotori by Haradasun), Zahra’s earlier winner, may be bound for the 2020 Cantala Stakes after beginning his spring campaign, just as he did last year, with victory in the Bobbie Lewis Quality. In 2019 his margin was a decisive two lengths but yesterday it was just a head in a contest which saw only a half-length separate the first five.
“It wasn’t as dominant as last year but he got the job done and that’s fantastic,” said co-trainer Mathew Ellerton who said the five-year-old would “stretch out” in trip this campaign with the Cantala a likely aim. Zoutori was a 2017 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase, from Amarina Farm, for $160,000.
Pretty Brazen (4 m Brazen Beau – Pretty Penny by Encosta De Lago) added a second and significant Group 2 success to her resume with an excellent win in the Let’s Elope Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m), holding out a late challenge from Arcadia Queen (Pierro) despite meeting that Group 1 winner – who was rated 20 points above her – at equal weights under the set weights and penalties conditions.
“The 1400 (metres) is where we see the best of her,” said co-trainer Calvin McEvoy, “and it’s great to have Luke Currie back and I’m thrilled he gets a Group 2 with his first win back.” Currie returned to riding on August 28 after suffering neck and rib fractures in a fall at Moonee Valley in February.
Pretty Brazen, a $700,000 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from Coolmore, may back up next week given her penchant for 1400 metres.
“She won the Sandown Guineas at Group 2 level and was the first filly for some 14 years to do so and we will consider backing up in the Rupert Clarke Stakes next week,” McEvoy said. [Cayambe (Danehill), in 2005, was the previous female Sandown Guineas winner.]
“We’ll just see how she pulls up as it’s quite firm out there today,” McEvoy added.
Flemington remarkably missed the bulk of the heavy rain which drenched the rest of Melbourne yesterday. Four mares have won the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in the past 30 years and three had finished either first or second in the Let’s Elope – Mannerism (Amyntor) in 1992, Rewaaya (Singspiel) in 2006 and Response (Charge Forward) in 2010.
Rothfire sizzles as Bowman is burned
An inquiry into Hugh Bowman’s handling of Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) has been adjourned after he was beaten for just the second time in yesterday’s The Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m) at Rosehill.
Farnan led at a brisk tempo under Bowman – carving out sectionals of a sizzling 10.34s between the 1000 metres and the 800 metres and a speedy 10.88s from the 800 metres to the 600 metres – before fading to finish fifth, almost four lengths behind Queensland superstar Rothfire.
Bowman was hauled before stewards and questioned over his ride, with chief stipe Marc Van Gestel saying it was “as aggressive as I’ve seen you on a horse out of the gates”. The champion jockey reported that the horse had simply got away from him once he asked Farnan to cross Rothfire to lead.
The matter was adjourned so that stewards could continue their investigations.
While Farnan shared the spotlight even in defeat, the performance of Rothfire (3 g Rothesay – Huss On Fire ex Hussonet) was simply outstanding and continues the rags-to-riches tale of the gelding who couldn’t even make it into a yearling sale two years ago.
The backstory of Rothfire has been well-chronicled: the tale of the Chinchilla-born foal who could not find a place in any yearling catalogue before his breeders, the Gleeson family, sold him to trainer Robert Heathcote for $10,000.
It was a fee that Heathcote had to pay twice due to an internet scam, but given Rothfire has now taken his earnings to $869,750, it is fair to say the wily handler is not complaining.
And with the $15 million The Everest (1200m) on the horizon, for which he is one of four confirmed runners, as well as a plethora of rich races in Australia and abroad, the Rothfire story looks to have plenty of chapters yet to be written.
“This little horse, he just keeps defying all the odds and taking that next step,” Heathcote’s racing manager Mel Sharpe said from Rosehill. “He is an absolute gem. He’s a real dude, not much fazes him.
“Rob had a really good, lengthy chat with Jimmy (Byrne) prior to coming to the races today and we always said if Farnan wants to cross us let him and we’ll just sit in behind him, don’t expose him and have him where he’s happy.”
Assisted by the hot speed set by Farnan as well as his own immense talent, Rothfire stopped the clock in 1:08.52, only 0.13 seconds off the 23-year track record held by four-time Group 1 winner All Our Mob (What A Guest).
He defeated the fast-finishing Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) by a length and a half, with North Pacific (Brazen Beau) third, a further length away.
Rothfire now holds $2.60 favouritism for the Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in two weeks’ time, with North Pacific ($6) and Farnan ($7) the only other potential runners in single figures. He also sits on the third line of betting for The Everest behind Group 1 winners Nature Strip (Nicconi) and Gytrash (Lope De Vega).
The Everest could also be a target for Haut Brion Her (5 m Zoustar – One In A Million by Redoute’s Choice) after the Chris Waller-trained mare defied ring rust following almost a year on the sidelines to take out the Sheraco Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) first-up.
Haut Brion Her, who progressed from three-year-old fillies’ Benchmark 66 company in July last year to winning the Blazer Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) in October, had been touted as a potential Everest contender by jockey James McDonald during the week.
She lived up to that billing with a gutsy success in what – like the Run To The Rose – was also a high-pressure race, defeating honest mare Jen Rules (Redoute’s Choice) by three-quarters of a length with a neck back to the luckless Seasons (Sebring) in third.
The Golden Pendant (Gr 2, 1400m) looms as the next target for Haut Brion Her before she is potentially dropped back in trip for The Everest, although that decision ultimately rests with the eight slot-holders who are yet to select their runners.
“Where she fits into The Everest picture I’m not sure. We might as well get them talking,” said Waller, who already has Nature Strip as a confirmed Everest runner. “She had to do it hard early and still showed a great turn of foot and was able to maintain that momentum all the way to the finish in a good field.”
Haut Brion Her, a half-sister to hardy Adelaide warhorse Karacatis (Hussonet) and Listed winner Shamillion (Shamardal), was to be offered at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by Three Bridges Thoroughbreds but was withdrawn, instead being raced by Three Bridges’ Peter Liston in partnership with majority shareholder Gary Johnson and Stephen Gardiner.
Her dam, One In A Million (Redoute’s Choice), died early last year, with Haut Brion Her the last of her foals.
The third of the Rosehill Group 2 features, the Theo Marks Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m), did not produce a likely Everest contender this year but it may have unearthed another feature-race prospect in the form of Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) hopeful Wild Planet.
Long a horse with all the potential in the world, Wild Planet (5 g Animal Kingdom – Salutations by Redoute’s Choice) looks set to fulfill those expectations this preparation after a gutsy long neck win over Group 1 winner Funstar (Adelaide), with Wild Planet’s old sparring partner Ranier (Lonhro) a further length away in third.
“You’ve got to give this horse credit, he really fights hard,” co-trainer Michael Hawkes said. “He’s in the Epsom and that’s the way we’re heading with him at this stage.”
Wild Planet was a $15 chance in TAB’s Epsom Handicap market last night, with Funstar the $8 equal favourite alongside her old rival Probabeel (Savabeel) and her stablemate Imaging (Oasis Dream).
A year-older half-brother to Waikato Stud freshman Super Seth (Dundeel), Wild Planet was purchased for $280,000 out of the Arrowfield Stud draft at the 2017 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale to the bid of Hawkes Racing and Andrew Williams Bloodstock.
He is raced by a number of prominent Hawkes Racing clients, including Rupert Legh, whose navy blue and gold colours he sports.
His dam Salutations has an unraced three-year-old Dundeel (High Chaparral) filly named Salutadeel, a yearling colt by the same sire while she returned to visit the Arrowfield stallion in 2019.