Legh hails Coeur Volante as his “best female” after Guineas Prelude win
Prolific owner enjoys brilliant day at Caulfield including Buffalo River regaining his Moonga Stakes crown
Mega owner Rupert Legh declared Coeur Volante (Proisir) could be the best female he’s raced – including multiple Group 1 winner Tofane (Ocean Park) – after the filly’s second successive dominant stakes win on Saturday.
Despite drawing the outside gate of 14 at Caulfield for the Thousand Guineas Prelude (Gr 2, 1400m), the Mike Moroney-trained three-year-old powered into a prominent position one out and one back, and surged clear in the straight to win by a length and a quarter.
The victory helped make a buoyant afternoon for Legh, highlighted by three stakes wins on Caulfield Cup day – ample compensation for the 73-year-old being on crutches after hip replacement surgery.
Coeur Volante’s eight-year-old stablemate Buffalo River (Noble Mission) continued to act half his age by taking his second Moonga Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) in three years – in fact giving Legh three wins in the past four editions of the race, having taken out the contest with Wild Planet (Animal Kingdom) in 2020.
Three-year-old Arkansaw Kid (Harry Angel), raced in a female Inglis Pink Ribbon bonus syndicate, including Legh’s wife Cheryl, put a last-start case of cardiac arrhythmia behind him by taking the Gothic Stakes (Listed, 1200m) in dogged fashion. The Lindsay Park-trained colt has now put himself among the leading contenders for the stallion-making Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington on Derby day (November 4).
Not only did Legh’s famed gold lightning–bolt colours strike three wins in a span of five races, Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) – the Yulong stallion in whom he has retained a share – continued his exciting start at stud.
The dominant debut victory of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt Shangri La Express in Randwick’s Kirkham Plate (1000m) gave his young sire two winners from three runners – all at metro level – following Karavas’s debut win at a Murray Bridge metro meeting on October 7. Furthermore, Alabama Express’s third runner, Accelar, came within a nose of giving him three from three at Eagle Farm on Saturday, after leading from the outside gate of 10 over 1000 metres.
It wasn’t all good news for Legh, however.
Last year’s Melbourne Cup runner-up Emissary (Kingman) is out for the spring after essentially being pulled up in the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m), one run after his rider reported action issues in his Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) failure. Legh said Emissary would be examined by vets to diagnose what is plaguing the seven-year-old, before, hopefully, an autumn campaign.
And success for Alabama Express at Randwick was followed by Wild Planet striking severe interference and nearly falling entering the straight, before finishing downfield in the Filante Handicap (1600m), as a well-supported second favourite third-up from a spell.
Overall, though, despite his recent surgery, events have been shaping well for Legh. A lifelong Collingwood AFL fan, the former policeman and financier was also part of a steering committee which orchestrated major changes to the club’s administration some four years ago, which bore fruit through their grand final triumph last month.
And on the racetrack, Legh feels still better could be to come this spring, especially from Coeur Volante.
Her victory on Saturday elevated her to second favouritism for the first edition of the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) since it’s rescheduling to mid-November from its old slot of last Wednesday.
The win followed her success in Moonee Valley’s Scarborough Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) in September, which came despite the slightly-built filly having a low appetite until only three days before the race.
After Saturday’s race, the seasoned Moroney was moved to say that through only four starts, the NZ$90,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka filly had already convinced him she’s one of the finest horses he’d trained.
Legh seconded that emotion, after an extra day’s consideration, saying he expected Coeur Volante to prove even better than Tofane, who carried his colours to four Group 1 wins, before being sold to Yulong’s Written Tycoon Syndicate for $3.1 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale of 2022.
“Tofane was a very good horse, but on what Coeur Volante showed on Saturday, I think she’ll be better,” Legh told ANZ Bloodstock News. “If I had to compare where the two of them were at this stage of their career, she’s well ahead.
“Her win at Moonee Valley was outstanding, getting blocked for a run in the straight and having to switch to the inside to get up. I thought that was something pretty special from a little lady having her third start. The way she attacked the line and wanted to win; you’ve got to have that toughness in the head to do that.
“She’s only improving. In the last few weeks, she’s come onto her tucker, which she wasn’t doing before Moonee Valley. She looks a lot better now.”
For a comparison to Coeur Volante’s past two runs, Legh cited one of Tofane’s most stirring moments – her last-furlong duel with Pierata (Pierro) when bobbing him out at the finish in the 2020 All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
“That was all out war with two horses going at it down the straight,” he said. “This girl has already demonstrated that after that race at Moonee Valley.”
And he went back two decades further, to the Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m)–Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) double of another of his former greats, Sky Heights (Zabeel), for backing as to why Coeur Volante should be virtually unbeatable in the Thousand Guineas, to be run at Caulfield on November 18.
“When Sky Heights won the Rosehill Guineas after a torrid run, I said if they couldn’t beat him with the run he had that day, they wouldn’t beat him in the AJC Derby,” Legh said.
“And that’s what I think about Coeur Volante. If they couldn’t beat her with that run from gate 14 on Saturday, they’re not going to beat her in the Thousand Guineas if she draws half a barrier.”
The main contender exempt from those calculations is Sydney filly Arctic Glamour (Frosted). She’s currently a $4.50 favourite – half a point shorter than Coeur Volante – for the Thousand Guineas, having won the past two of her four starts, the latest in Randwick’s Reginald Allen Stakes (Listed, 1400m).
With Racing Victoria’s sub-popular rescheduling move leaving a month between the Prelude and the Thousand Guineas, Legh said Coeur Volante may have a tune-up race at Flemington in Cup week, although a barrier trial was an alternative.
He’s also hopeful Coeur Volante can cover more ground, bringing a Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) into the reckoning next year. The New Zealand-bred filly’s Australian dam Shanina (Testa Rossa) won five country races up to 1400 metres. By contrast, sire Proisir – who took New Zealand’s general sires’ title in just his fifth season of runners last term – has had five Group 1 winners, two of whom have won past 2000 metres. One was New Zealand’s reigning Champion Middle Distance horse Prowess, who’s won two Group 1s including this year’s Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Rosehill.
A top-tier success or two for Coeur Volante could in fact compensate Moroney and Legh missing buying Prowess, over the phone, in the Covid-hit New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale of 2021, where she went to trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood for NZ$230,000.
“We should have had her. There was a muck up when Mike was bidding for her. We had a reserve of about $260,000, but whoever was bidding for Mike didn’t hear Mike correctly,” Legh said. “Hopefully Coeur Volante will make up for her.”
Legh believes Arkansaw Kid could be over-the-odds for the $2 million Coolmore Stud Stakes at his current quote of $26.
“We’ve always had a high opinion of him. He was unlucky when third in the Blue Diamond, drew wide and had a tough run when seventh in the Golden Slipper,” Legh said.
“He then ran 10th first-up [in Flemington’s Poseidon Stakes] when he was found to have a heart arrhythmia, and he showed great toughness to win on Saturday. He’s in form, that run will tighten him right up, he’s pulled up very well and ate up, and he’ll improve out of that.”
Buffalo River is now a $15 chance for the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), also at Caulfield on Thousand Guineas’ day, where the revitalised gelding will be striving for a first elite-level win at his eighth attempt.
Legh said he’d feared the British-bred front-runner’s best days were over during a 12-run sequence to last May yielding only three minor placings and much disappointment. But the removal of muffs last month has been followed by two wins in three starts, the first being the Testa Rossa Stakes (Listed, 1400m) at Caulfield last month.
“He might have resented the ear muffs, or he couldn’t hear his rivals coming, so we took them off and it’s turned him around,” Legh said yesterday.
“The great thing about Buffalo is he’s as sound as a bell. He’s only seven by northern hemisphere time, never had one day with leg issues, he’s still only had 41 starts, which isn’t huge, and he’s tough and loves racing.”
Equally exciting for Legh is Alabama Express, the Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m)-winning seven-year-old who’s now covering his fourth book at Yulong, at a fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
“I had [Gilgai Farm breeder] Rick Jamieson on the phone this morning, saying my biggest winner on Saturday was actually Alabama Express,” Legh said.
“He was saying breeders will be all over that stallion. Three runners, it should have been three winners. You couldn’t start off a career better.”
Legh also retained a share in fellow Yulong sire Grunt (O’Reilly), so if Arkansaw Kid can’t provide him a thrill in the Coolmore – by which time Legh should be off his crutches – perhaps the spring in his step will come from Grunt first-cropper Veight, who’s currently a $15 chance for the race.