Treasurethe Moment digs deep in Australian Oaks
The Matt Laurie-trained Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) reinforced her reputation as the best filly in Australia on Saturday when she landed her second Classic in the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) at Randwick.
In winning the Group 1, the three-year-old became the first filly in 19 years to seal the ATC Oaks / VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) double, with Serenade Rose (Stravinsky) the most recent horse to achieve the feat, landing the Flemington Classic in 2005 before arriving at Randwick to take the Sydney Classic in 2006.
In addition, the daughter of Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) stretched her unbeaten run to eight and delivered her third win at the highest level, having also landed the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) on her first start in Sydney.
On Saturday however, the filly was pushed to her limits for the first time since she kicked off her picket fence form.
After a sedate early pace and lack of cover throughout, Treasurethe Moment looked in trouble at the 300 metre-mark and still had ground to make up on Sun ‘N’ Sand (Pride Of Dubai (Pride Of Dubai) and You Wahng (So You Think), a pair of double-figure roughies, in the straight.
With star New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Leica Lucy (Derryn) for company, Treasurethe Moment kept finding under Damian Lane, but was running out of time.
But as it usually does, class prevailed, with Laurie’s filly finding her stride and gaining the lead with 50 metres left to travel, eventually crossing the line 0.39 lengths ahead of the Barbara Joseph, Paul and Matt Jones-trained Sun ‘N’ Sand, with You Wahng a further 0.49 lengths adrift in third.
Leica Lucy, who was having her Australian first start for Chris Waller, finished another 0.19 lengths away in third, her first defeat in five starts.
It has been an extraordinary fortnight in Sydney for Laurie, who kicked off a trio Group 1 wins in the Harbour City when Treasurethe Moment claimed the Vinery on Tuesday, April 1, three days after it was originally scheduled. He then saddled exciting colt Vinrock (I Am Invincible) to win the Inglis Sires’ Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) last weekend, and was visibly emotional at Randwick after his star filly completed the treble.
“I was pretty nervous about today,” he said. “I mean, small field and, you know, often they can be a bit kind of messy. It was sort of slow to watch. She didn’t have a great deal of cover at times, and was on the wrong lead. Then they all came off the turn. She was under siege.
“We haven’t seen that for a while and to see her dig deep in the concluding stages, just an incredible effort and I couldn’t be prouder of the horse and the team to help get it to this point.”
Laurie added that while he hadn’t seen Treasurethe Moment pushed to her limit in a long time, he was confident she could find a way to get the job done.
“We have seen it before,” he said. “Not for a while. Early on in her career, she had to really fight back on the inside down at Sandown one day. So I knew she’d keep coming. Her work’s just been incredible. The last month has been unbelievable. I’m not sure whether we’ll be coming to this sort of distance range anytime soon.
“Damian will give us a good guide on the following preparation, but I’m obviously just a bit emotional about the last few months.
“She’s got an incredible heart, so it’s a great story. I don’t know many that have gone right through from winning the Wakeful to winning today, but I guess there wouldn’t be too many of them.
“I’ve got full faith in the horse and we’ll just enjoy this preparation and what she’s achieved, I’m sure she’ll come back with a bang next time.
“You have a plan, but you don’t expect things to go the way you dream. To have it work out the way it has for us is just unbelievable. We had four races mapped out for her to win and to do it is just amazing.”
Lane echoed Laurie’s sentiments: “She’s a beauty – she’s a pleasure to ride, she got me out of a bit of a sticky spot at the top of the straight.”
“The leader really sprinted well and I probably gave her a bit too much leeway and had a bit of ground to make up.
“She ended up knuckling down when it counted, just those real good special horses, just find a way.”
On running down the leaders, Lane said: “I was hoping more than anything and with 100 metres to go, she knuckled down and when those in front were getting tired, she just found the line.”
Treasurethe Moment is out of Draconic Treasure, a winning daughter of Street Cry (Machiavellian), who BBA Ireland and Yulong paid $320,000 for at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2016. Sadly, Draconic Treasure died in 2022.