Regal heads Western Australia quinella in second All-Star Mile
It was an all-West Australian affair in the second running of the All-Star Mile (1600m) at Caulfield yesterday as Grant and Alana Williams landed the quinella with the Bob Peters-owned pair Regal Power (Pierro) coming home first, ahead of Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) runner-up Superstorm (Sebring).
Stable jockey William Pike had the choice of rides between the two talented Perth horses in the $5 million race, but he opted to stick with the son of Pierro (Lonhro) whom he partnered to finish second in the Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) a week earlier.
And his decision was a correct one as the reigning Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner settled in a perfect position in fourth during the run before shooting to the front with 200 metres to go, defeating his fast-finishing stablemate by three-quarters of a length.
Champion New Zealand mare Melody Belle (Commands) put in a gallant performance to finish a further half-length away in third.
“The Williams’ camp, right now, I think no one is training better than them,” Pike told Racing.com. “Honestly, their record in big races is just amazing. Mr Peters, the way he is able to find good horses year after year keeps us all in form and keeps us all looking good.
“This horse, he’s been so good for me. I wasn’t at my best on him last start, so this goes some way towards atoning for that.”
The leading Perth rider said he was surprised that the intense tempo of the race, which was set by Godolphin’s sole runner Flit (Medaglia d’Oro), didn’t ease throughout the race.
“I was waiting for that mid-race steady that pretty much I’ve found in nearly every race I’ve ridden in over here, but it didn’t come,” Pike continued. “There was always going to be good pressure early, I thought. I was worried about a mid-race steady and the Blood (Alligator Blood) would steal it with a mid-race steady but that didn’t happen today.”
“I was at least one or two spots closer than what I thought I’d be. It probably told on me a little late, but he was good enough. He just kept hanging in there.”
Grant Williams, who trains in partnership with his wife Alana, said he was grateful to Peters for giving him the opportunity to travel the horses over to Melbourne in his own name, rather than transferring them to a local stable.
“At the end of the day, I think Bob was getting a bit pissed off with the horses coming back (to Perth) like they were too so I rang him after the Cox (Plate) and said, ‘Listen Bob, these are our horses too. We’re a team and how about we do it together?’ And that’s what we’ve done,” he told Racing.com.
“He’s (Peters) been super to us. We couldn’t be where we are without him so it’s great he’s given us this opportunity.”
Currently training at a strike rate of 28%, the Williams team believe that their All-Star Mile runner-up, three-year-old Superstorm, will develop into one of Perth’s best horses.
“He came over as a travelling companion,” Williams explained. “He had to win the Challenge (Stakes) to qualify for the (Australian) Guineas then he ran second to Alligator Blood and now run second and beat all these horses in the All-Star Mile.
“He’ll be a serious horse in the next 12 months.”
Regal Power is nominated for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Randwick next month, but the co-trainer doubts he or Superstorm will be continuing their campaigns in Sydney.
“I reckon Bob, knowing his horses, will say bring them home and put them away and then we can bring them back later,” Williams said.
One horse bound for Sydney is Melody Belle who is on track for the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) during The Championships. Jamie Richards described her performance in the All-Star Mile as honest, although she lacked vital galloping room.
“Opie (Bosson, jockey) thought he did the right thing getting on the back of Alligator Blood, but he didn’t take him into the race as he would have liked,” Richards said. “It was an honest performance and she won’t lose any admirers from that.”
Australian Guineas winner Alligator Blood (All Too Hard), who went into the race as the $2.80 favourite, faded out of the race to finish tenth, a poor performance that left David Vandyke longing for an explanation.
“We know he goes better than that,” Vandyke said. “When Ryan (Maloney, jockey) asked him, he found very little. He’s had a good blow, that shows he has put in, but I can’t answer why.”
Racing Victoria stewards reported its veterinary team found no abnormalities with the three-year-old cult favourite.
Regal Power (4 g Pierro – Broadway Belle by Redoute’s Choice) has won seven of his 20 starts and in the process has earned $3,781,470 in career prize money.
The four-year-old gelding is the third winner out of Listed-winning Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) mare Broadway Belle, making him a brother to fellow Western Australian Derby (Gr 2, 2400m) winner Action.
The gelding’s second dam is Antique (Metal Storm), who produced Listed winner Antique Belle (Redoute’s Choice) and blue-hen mare Arcadia (Redoute’s Choice).
This family is a good example of the potency of the cross between Pierro (Lonhro) and Arrowfield Stud’s late breed-shaping stallion Redoute’s Choice, with Arcadia’s mating to the Coolmore Stud-based sire producing 2018 Kingston Town Classic (Gr 1, 1800m) winner Arcadia Queen and Group 3 winner Arcadia Prince.
Regal Power is one of six Group 1 winners for Pierro and the third out of a Redoute’s Choice mare, joining Arcadia Queen and Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Levendi.
Broadway Belle has a yearling filly by Pierro’s barnmate American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) and a weanling sister to Regal Power.
Pierro is standing at Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley for a fee of $88,000 (inc GST) and has swept to the lead on the Australian General Sires List with progeny earnings topping $12 million.
Comeback pays off for globetrotter Con Te Partiro
The career of globe-trotting mare Con Te Partiro (Scat Daddy) looked to be done and dusted six months ago as she headed to the breeding barn to be served by Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
But a decision to return her to the stables of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott after she failed to get in foal paid off when she took out the Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) at Rosehill yesterday.
Waterhouse and Bott convinced Newgate Farm principal Henry Field to put the American-bred six-year-old back in work, adamant she had much more to offer.
“I worked for Gai as a lad and she is my absolute hero,” Field said. “They tag-teamed me and said, ‘please put her back in training’ – and I’m glad I did.”
Tim Clark had Con Te Partiro in the perfect position one out one back during the run and peeled out around the final bend to stride clear at the top of the straight, holding on to defeat the regally bred Miss Fabulass (Frankel) by a length and a quarter with the Chris Waller-trained Noire (Foxwedge) a further neck away in third.
Co-trainer Bott, who was trackside on a wet and dreary day at Rosehill, said he was not surprised by the mare’s victory.
“I said it wouldn’t surprise us to see her come out and do something like this today because we’ve made genuine excuses for her all the way through,” he said. “She just needs all the right conditions and I thought we’d found another excuse with the rain but she got through it well.
“She is a stakes winner in America, a stakes winner at Royal Ascot and a Group 1 winner here. She has been around the world. She is a well-travelled mare and well credentialed.”
Con Te Partiro will now head to the Coolmore Legacy Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick next month and Bott has not ruled out a possible tilt at the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m).
Kris Lees, trainer of $41 shot Miss Fabulass, was delighted with her runner-up performance, saying the daughter of top-class mare Samantha Miss (Redoute’s Choice) had run out of her skin.
“She was huge, I’m really proud of her,” Lees said. “I’m never happy with second but if you’re going to run second it may as well be in a Group 1.”
Con Te Partiro (6 m Scat Daddy – Temple Street by Street Cry) began her career in America and took out the Bolton Landing Stakes (Listed, 5.5f) at Saratoga at her third start before winning the Sandringham Stakes (Listed, 1m) at Royal Ascot and finishing fourth in the Del Mar Oaks (Gr 1, 9f) the following year.
Purchased by Newgate Farm and SF Bloodstock for US$575,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, the daughter of Scat Daddy’s (Johannesburg) record now sits at five wins and three placings from 22 starts with prize-money earnings of $816,475.
She is out of the Grade 1-placed mare Temple Street (Street Cry), making her a half-sister to stakes winner Donworth (Tiznow), and she is also from the family of Grade 1 winners A Phenomenon (Tentam) and Seattle Meteor (Seattle Slew).
The ill-fated Scat Daddy had four sons covering mares at Coolmore Stud in 2019, led by the Triple Crown champion Justify, alongside Mendelssohn, No Nay Never, and Sioux Nation.
Prague set for Slipper back up, decision pending on Thermosphere
The final qualification races for next week’s Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) took place at Rosehill yesterday as the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Prague (Redoute’s Choice) got back to winning ways in the the Pago Pago Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) with Godolphin’s Thermosphere (Exosphere) landing the Magic Night Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m).
UK jockey Tom Marquand returned to Australia this week and reunited with Prague after winning the Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) on him in February. He delivered a near-perfect ride on the back of the leader throughout the run.
Marquand made his move around the final bend and the pair hit the front with 300 metres to go, drawing away to win by a length and a half over the Gerald Ryan-trained and Aquis Farm-owned Kumasi (Snitzel) with Team Hawkes’ I Am Swerving (I Am Invincible) half a length away in third.
“It was worth coming back for,” Marquand said. “He’s a lovely big horse and he’s not done an awful lot of racing so there is no reason why he shouldn’t handle backing up.”
Co-trainer Maher believes Prague still has improvement to come and will be ready to peak when he returns to Rosehill for the $3.5 million juvenile feature on Saturday.
“He’s a very relaxed horse and he’s still learning his craft,” Maher said. “You saw last start off a slow pace he just over-raced a little bit and Tom really suits him, he’s a good, strong rider. Hopefully he will stick with him for next week.”
Stratum (Redoute’s Choice) was the last horse to win the Pago Pago Stakes and return to claim the Golden Slipper a week later but Maher said Prague has the right temperament to cope with the task.
“We thought in the run in, if we had to back up it would work because he had his runs well spaced early and then you tighten them up and hopefully peak him for next week,” Maher continued. “He is still quite progressive. There’s a bit more in the tank and I think the backup will be ideal.”
Maher and Eustace already have Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Away Game (Snitzel) and Group 2-placed Muntaseera (I Am Invincible) safely in the Slipper field, while Cellsabeel (Hinchinbrook) and Rathlin (Fastnet Rock) are borderline.
Owned by Aquis Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds, Prague (2 c Redoute’s Choice ex Purely Spectacular by Pins) was purchased at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from the Bhima Thoroughbreds draft for $1.6 million.
One of five foals to race from the well-related mare Purely Spectacular (Pins), Prague is a half-brother to dual Group 1 winner and young Widden Stud resident Stratum Star (Stratum) as well as the stakes-placed Serenade (Star Witness).
Less than an hour later, Thermosphere took out the juvenile fillies feature of the day but James Cummings is yet to decide whether she will follow the same route as Prague and back up in the Golden Slipper on Saturday.
Godolphin produced the trifecta in last year’s Slipper, led by Kiamichi (Sidestep), who also took out the Magic Night Stakes in the lead up.
“I think we will enjoy the win before we get too carried away deciding that because we’ve still got time up our sleeve,” Cummings said. “Kiamichi won on a rain-affected track seven days out last year and that proved to be vital on a day that was completely bottomless.
“That was a good day for Godolphin and hopefully it will be a good day next week. We will do the right thing by her. If she’s absolutely bouncing and ready to have a crack then we will do the sporting thing by her and give her a chance.”
Ridden by James McDonald, who booted home five winners on the day at Rosehill, Thermosphere settled midfield off the fence and tracked the leaders around the final bend before finding a gap with a furlong and a half to go, hitting the front in the final 50 metres.
The two-year-old filly held off Gerald Ryan’s Time Is Precious (Snitzel) by a neck with the David Payne-trained rank outsider Jemss (Exosphere) a further a head away in third.
Thermosphere’s (2 f Exosphere – Glows by Canny Lad) victory brought up the first stakes-winner for her Darley-based Group 1-winning first season sire Exosphere (Lonhro). She was also his first winner when she broke her maiden at Newcastle on February 27.
A Godolphin homebred, Thermosphere has won two of four starts, earning nearly $130,000 in prize-money.
She is the first winner out of the stakes-winning Glows (Canny Lad), who comes from the family of Group 3 winner Falaise (Grand Lodge).
Glows has another yearling colt by Exosphere and is back in foal to him with a weanling colt by fellow son of Lonhro (Octagonal), Pierro.
Jennifer Eccles cements Filly Of The Year with NZ Oaks victory
Trainer Shaune Ritchie and jockey Jason Waddell agree on one thing: Jennifer Eccles (Rip Van Winkle) is as good as, if not better than, any filly Ritchie has trained and is right at the very top of Waddell’s impressive list of big-race winners.
However, her win in yesterday’s New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) at Trentham could well have come badly undone at the 500-metre mark when the filly clipped heels and dipped heavily, almost taking a tumble.
“It wasn’t real pretty when I clipped heels at the 500 metres,” said Waddell.
“She was just going too well for me but they were stopping in front of me too soon and I was trying to move some horses out of the way and caught a heel. But, far out, she got back underneath me.”
Ritchie was amazed at the skill Waddell showed in placing the filly to such advantage after drawing the outside barrier.
“He’s unbelievable, isn’t he? You wouldn’t believe he could get from 18 at the gate to where he was at the winning post the first time.”
Ritchie continued: “Didn’t she relax lovely? She’s a spectacular filly for sure. She’s got a great turn of foot. We were always questioning after that (last start) Hastings run (Lowland Stakes) as to whether she’d get the mile and a half but settling down the back it was just like Te Rapa (Sir Tristram Fillies Classic) again where she relaxed great.”
They jointly agreed that the Rip Van Winkle (Galileo) filly is top class.
“Every Oaks win is a big win. I like training these three-year-old fillies over ground and this filly could be the best filly I’ve trained,” stated Ritchie, with Waddell in agreement: “I’ve ridden some good horses and she’s right at the very top. She’s a super filly.”
Asked about the filly’s future, Ritchie might have something firm in a few days.
“She’ll be in the market for the ATC Oaks for sure but we’re well aware that she’s had a busy year,” he said.
“I’m going to enjoy this moment, have a good talk to Adrian (Clark, manager of the Challenge No. 10 syndicate ownership) and make a decision towards the end of the week.”
Jennifer Eccles was having her 11th start and along with this, her maiden Group 1 success, she has also won three Group 2 races since finishing a long neck second to Loire (Redoute’s Choice) in last November’s New Zealand One Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Riccarton.
Remarkably consistent and honest with four wins and six placings, including three victories on the trot now, she has missed the placings only once, when running fourth in the Gold Trail Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m).
The win also cemented her New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year title for the current season, having a healthy lead heading towards yesterday’s Oaks. In fact, her total of 44.5 points makes her the highest-scoring filly in more than 20 years, with Justa Tad (Istidaad) in 2004-05 the last to accrue more than 40 points.
It was a feat that has eluded star fillies since, including the likes of Princess Coup (Encosta De Lago), Daffodil (No Excuse Needed), Katie Lee (Pins), King’s Rose (Redoute’s Choice) and Bonneval (Makfi).
Jennifer Eccles (3 f Rip Van Winkle – Platinum Elle, by Elnadim) was purchased by Challallenge No. 10 syndicate manager Adrian Clark for NZ$5,000 from the Westend Partnership draft at the NZB National Weanling Sale.
She is by the same sire as current star Te Akau Shark (Rip Van Winkle), and is the fourth named foal and second winner of her dam Platinum Elle (Elnadim), a Listed-placed winner of four races, including at Ellerslie and Riccarton.
Her second dam, the Group 3-placed Lady Tee (Zabeel), was a winner at Trentham and is a half-sister to the dam of Group 2 winner Puttanesca (Bertolini).
In 2017 Platinum Elle produced a colt by Sweynesse (Lonhro) and has a filly foal at foot by What’s The Story (Savabeel). This past spring, she once again visited Rip Van Winkle.