‘SPECIAL’ SISTINA
Chris Waller declared Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) a ‘very, very special horse’ after she defied any late-carnival curse with another dominant victory in Saturday’s Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Flemington.
After the Yulong mare’s astonishing Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) triumph – slashing almost two seconds off Winx’s (Street Cry) record time and matching her historic eight-length margin – the question was how could she possibly follow that?
Not only that, but Champions Day, or Stakes Day in the old, has often been a graveyard for fancied runners, with it being tacked on to the end of campaigns which had already contained their major spring targets.
But, sent out a prohibitive $1.60 favourite, the seven-year-old laid any doubts to rest in another awe-inspiring win – albeit not in the Cox Plate realm – ranging up from near the back of the 11-horse field at the turn and coming away easily to score by 2.75 lengths under James McDonald.
On this occasion her time on a Good 4 track was not quite as stunning as on a Good 3 at Moonee Valley, the 2:01.86 well outside the track record – and a then turf world record – of another great mare, Makybe Diva (Desert King), who ran 1:58.73 in taking the Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) of 2005.
But in scoring her fourth Group 1 of the spring, and her sixth overall, Via Sistina showed again she might just be the most astute of the hundreds of purchases brought to Zhang Yuesheng’s Yulong in its explosion to life in recent years.
“It was very special. Winning the Cox Plate the way she did, I think caught everyone by surprise,” Waller told Channel 9.
“And then the pressure to back her up and go one more run – we spoke about sport analogies and having another game after a grand final and we were thinking about it constantly. But she’s a very, very special horse, obviously.
“Don’t underestimate how hard these horses work, so we could see that. We just backed off in the last two weeks and gave her a good time, and it worked.”
Don’t underestimate how hard these horses work, so we could see that. We just backed off in the last two weeks and gave her a good time, and it worked
Via Sistina wrote a memorable chapter in Cox Plate folklore, not only for her demolition victory but for throwing McDonald off on the Tuesday beforehand and running more than two laps of the track. Her subsequent triumph sparked hopes of a Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) start, but having passed that by, Waller was more than happy with her spring haul.
“Yeah, she captured the imagination with the Tuesday morning workout [before the Cox Plate], backed up with an impressive track record winning run in the Cox Plate,” he said. “And then there was the temptation to run in a Melbourne Cup, but I think the Melbourne Cup is a good enough story without us.
“It was great to see today [Saturday]. It’s been an amazing week. The VRC are doing a great job, just continuing to evolve and making sure they’ve got what the people want, and that’s good horses racing more often.”
Waller trained the quinella in the Champions Stakes, with last year’s winner Atishu (Savabeel) running second after taking the Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) last Saturday.
“We’ve got a good team. Atishu, she was brave. She won the race last year and I feel for her, but she got a Group 1 last Saturday,” he said. “They [Atishu and Via Sistina] can chat tonight. They’re actually right next to each other in their stables.”
Sold as a yearling by Jamie Railton to Stephen Hillen Bloodstock at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale in 2019 for 5,000gns (around $10,000), and bought as a Group 1-winning racemare to compete under the Yulong banner for 2,700,000gns (approx $5.4 million) at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale four years later, Via Sistina has now more than recouped that purchase price, with her earnings on Saturday breaching $8.5 million.
McDonald said there was plenty more ahead of the mare, who’s still only had 20 starts, and said her recovery since the Cox Plate had been immense.
“That speaks volumes of her ability, her demeanour, just the way she enjoys it,” he told Racing.com.
“She just gives you so much confidence as a rider. She’s come a long way since she first came off the plane. She’s got a little bit more tactical speed, which is always good to have, but she just seems to be just thriving and she loves the fast ground.
“I know she was pegged as a wet tracker coming down here [but] horses with a turn of foot like that, they love that surface.”
Last year’s Cups double hero Without A Fight (Teofilo) may have missed most of the spring due to a tendon injury, but showed on his resumption he was in for a major campaign, making strong ground at the finish to be third, 4.75 lengths off Via Sistina.
Although the plum Australian spring races are over, he’s likely to be targeted at the HK$24,000,000 ($4.69 million) Hong Kong Vase (Gr 1, 2400m) on December 8.
“He went super – couldn’t be happier with a return like that,” said jockey Mark Zahra. “We followed Via Sistina, it was a good solid run race but I was able to quicken up behind her for most of the straight and then she left him late.
“He’ll benefit from that and I think he’ll be very hard to beat in Hong Kong.”
Via Sistina is the fifth and by far the best of seven named foals for the unraced Nigh (Galileo). Suggesting major influence from Fastnet Rock in their mating during his shuttling career to Ireland, only one other of Nigh’s offspring has won, and that is Fougere (Bated Breath), who claimed only a Nottingham handicap in 19 starts.
The outstanding mare is another example of Fastnet Rock’s potency when crossed with daughters of Coolmore’s perennial breed-shaping sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). The nick ranks as Fastnet Rock’s finest, with 30 global stakes winners, headed by 11 top-flight winners and 114 winners from 158 runners.
