New Zealand breds bidding for Queensland Oaks glory
Molly Bloom and Scarlet Oak out to continue good form of Kiwis across the Tasman
Connections of New Zealand filly Molly Bloom (Ace High) are quietly confident she can beat Chris Waller before joining him as she tackles his rising star Scarlet Oak (Kermadec) in Saturday’s Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m).
The outstanding pair have emerged from a familiar script – Kiwi-made fillies sharing the two top market spots for an Australian staying Classic, and just one week since a male compatriot in Warmonger (War Decree) won the state’s Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) by more than ten lengths.
And the pair have similar stories to each other.
Scarlet Oak started with Ken and Bev Kelso in New Zealand before Melbourne owner Ozzie Kheir bought in after her debut win and brought her across the Tasman to Waller. She’s since won two of three, including so impressively last-start in the ANZ Bloodstock News The Roses (Gr 2, 2000m) at Doomben.
That win, more powerful in nature than in margin [0.29 lengths], made Waller dub her “a pretty serious racehorse”, and made bookies install her a $3.60 Oaks favourite.
Molly Bloom was bought as a yearling by co-trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott and won three of her first seven – including New Zealand’s 1000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) – before Kheir again bought a controlling stake, in February.
After four more runs including a 0.8 length win three runs ago in Te Rapa’s Ellis Fillies Classic (Gr 2, 2000m) and a tough fifth in Scarlet Oak’s The Roses, she’s second elect for the Oaks at around $5.
As the pair compete on Saturday under the same Kheir silks, Scarlet Oak’s worn by James McDonald and Molly Bloom’s by Blake Shinn, it will be the latter’s last run for O’Sullivan and Scott before she stays west of the Tasman to also join Waller.
And there’ll be a ready-made box for her at Waller’s Rosehill stable, since his Group 1-placed filly Tutta La Vita (The Autumn Sun) was on Wednesday scratched from the Queensland Oaks as she’s headed to the USA for a possible Breeders’ Cup tilt for her new owners, John Stewart’s Resolute Racing, who bought her for $3.2 million at last month’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale.
Aside from her impending exportation, Tutta La Vita had in any case drawn barrier 16 in a full capacity Oaks field of 18 in which the gate gods cursed several key runners.
On Friday, with the four remaining emergencies having gates 8, 13, 15 and 17, Scarlet Oak had 14, stablemate and $5.50 third-favourite Ahuriri (Almanzor) 19, and The Roses eye-catchers Miss Joelene (Russian Revolution) 20 and Kind Words (Written Tycoon) 21.
With only a short run to the first turn for an Oaks run not over 2400 metres but 2200 metres for reasons best known by really no one, Molly Bloom had an ideal middle draw in nine.
Another leading chance flying the flags of both New Zealand and Almanzor, Moonlight Magic, fared well in gate six for Michael Dee, while another of the top few chances from Waller’s battalion of seven – Roses runner-up Mare Of Mt Buller (Dundeel) – won the gate lottery, with barrier two for Tommy Berry.
Although O’Sullivan has been in Brisbane with Molly Bloom all week, Scott on Friday flew over to join him. He insisted there was no tip to be seized upon from this – simply the two trainers wanted to farewell the filly together – but in any case their feeling is strong that if Scarlet Oak is to be felled, it could be because their filly is in full bloom.
“It’s her last run for the stable, so Lance said, ‘Come on over – it’s the last time we saddle her’,” Scott told ANZ. “Obviously, we’ve created a strong bond with her, being such a wonderful filly for the stable. Hopefully she can end her three-year-old year on a high.
“This year, it looks a very strong field. Scarlet Oak has the form on the board, and turned in a very good performance last start.
“But we’ve been very pleased with Molly Bloom’s work in Brisbane. She trained really well on Tuesday morning, indicating her fitness levels are as high as they’ve ever been.
“So we’re certainly pleased with her. We think we’ve got her peaking for the race, so hopefully we get good fortune.”
Scott and O’Sullivan were delighted with Molly Bloom’s fifth in The Roses, when she travelled three and four wide throughout and still worked home strongly from her usual rearward position to finish only 2.3 lengths behind Scarlet Oak, who was given an ideal passage by McDonald.
Doomben was a soft 6 for The Roses, and Molly Bloom ran second the start before on a heavy 10 in The Bracelet (Listed, 1800m) at the Sunshine Coast.
But while it sounds most un-Kiwi of her, she’s expected to fare better on firmer ground on Saturday. Eagle Farm was a soft 5 on Friday night, with sunny skies forecast.
“We were pleased with her in The Roses, especially in the yielding ground,” Scott said. “She’s better on quicker ground where they run at a higher tempo, so she relaxes better, breathes and finds more rhythm.
“That’s not to say she hasn’t handled the wet ground in her last two runs, but we just think we’ll get a better performance on quicker ground. Her best performance was in the 1000 Guineas, where they really ran along and she got a good opportunity to relax and come home,” he said of that one-length victory on a Riccarton good 4.
Bought from breeders Seaton Park for $150,000 at NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, and named for an American entrepreneur and former Olympic skiing hopeful, Molly Bloom’s Guineas win made her Ace High’s (High Chaparral) first Group 1 winner.
The success of his first crop dux has helped prompt Rich Hill Stud to increase the rising ten-year-old’s service fee for this his sixth spring, from $10,000 to $15,000.
She remains Ace High’s sole Group winner, among two black type victors and 18 winners from 40 runners. He does, however, sit second on New Zealand’s second season sires’ table, with 11 winners from 28 runners this term, behind U S Navy Flag (War Front), matches him for two stakes-winners, and leads the way by stakes wins (four) thanks to Molly Bloom’s three at Group level and Drakaina’s Listed victory.
Ace High won the ATC Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) back-to-back in 2017, while Molly Bloom also draws stamina from her dam Dancilla (Iffraaj), whose lone win in seven stars came over 2000 metres at Taranaki.
“She was just a really nice type of yearling with a good bit of girth, a good bit of presence and a beautiful mind,” Scott said.
“Obviously Ace High at that time was a well unknown stallion, but she was from a tough Kiwi staying family that can leave good rugged stayers. We were certainly drawn to the type of filly that she was, and obviously it’s worked in our favour.
“We found she was really swift over the seven [1400m] and eight [1600m] furlongs, and we were able to pick up the Guineas with her on the way through, but certainly when we bought her we thought she’d be more of a three-year-old staying filly, and hopefully that’s proven tomorrow.”
O’Sullivan and Scott went further to buy an Ace High colt from Rich Hill at Karaka this year for $280,000, a son of dual winning sprinter Hot In Pink (Lonhro).
“We’re becoming quite the fans of Ace High,” Scott said. “He’s really starting to find his way in New Zealand, and hopefully that transpires to Australia and he becomes a really good stallion.”
Waller’s level of confidence would suggest Molly Bloom will, however, face a steep challenge – from Scarlet Oak at the very least.
“She’s probably our number one seed,” Waller said on social media. “I don’t like to have favourites, but what she did last start, and in her limited runs to date, would announce her as a pretty serious horse on the rise.
“This is another step, and stepping up in distance, so there’s a lot of boxes unticked. But a filly of her class, she’d be very hard to beat.”
Waller was also warm on Ahuriri, who showed great staying prowess in easily winning the VRC St Leger (Listed, 2800m) before last-start running a 4.2-length fifth in the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), when back and wide and meeting with traffic early in the straight. Warmonger ran second that day.
“Ahuriri had no luck at Adelaide. Fortune was against her, but she’s worked well and she’ll get her chance,” said Waller, diminishing the impact of her wide gate for John Allen. “The way Eagle Farm raced last week they were making up ground anyway, and [inside] barrier draws weren’t really a help.”
Waller added $7.50 chance Mare Of Mt Buller would be “hard to beat”, and urged punters not to forget his $34 hope Firestorm (Satono Aladdin), who’d been “going really well” despite being kept out of the classiest races by her lack of prizemoney.
Whoever emerges with the spoils, connections will be hoping the race again anoints a heroine, since modern winners have included such stars as Winx (Street Cry), Cups double winner Ethereal (Rhythm), Duais (Shamus Award) and Gypsy Goddess (Tarzino).
And the Scarlet Oak camp will be hoping history repeats, almost to a tee. McDonald has won the event once, on the Kiwi-bred Scarlett Lady (Savabeel), in 2011.
Scott has also won it once, the year before that with Miss Keepsake (Keeper), which came amid a run of four straight victories in the Classic for New Zealand-breds. In contrast their lone highlight of the past six editions was Gypsy Goddess in 2022.
O’Sullivan is seeking to win it for the first time, to match brother Paul’s success of 2004 with Vouvray (Zabeel).