Via Sistina lays down strong spring marker with Winx triumph
The last time expensive import Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) raced, jockey James McDonald said it was “embarrassing” to have been beaten the way they were.
Declan Bates and Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) had just pulled off their unforgettable steal in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), bursting to an outrageous lead of some 100 metres before beating Via Sistina into second by 6.5 lengths.
But on Saturday at the same Randwick venue, Via Sistina wasn’t to be denied.
With Kerrin McEvoy riding while McDonald opted to partner her stablemate, the favourite, Fangirl (Sebring), Via Sistina powered home up the inside to snatch her second elite-level victory in three Australian starts, in the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
Bought by Evergreen Equine at last December’s Tattersalls Mares Sale for 2,700,000gns (approx. $5.2 million), and now racing in the colours of Yulong Stud, Via Sistina showed her unquestionable talent by adding to her first Australian Group 1 – in the Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1 , 2000m) in March – by resuming triumphantly over 600 metres less on Saturday.
It was the northern hemisphere six-year-old’s third top-tier win, the first being the Curragh’s Pretty Polly Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) in July 2023.
And seldom has a European import, particularly a mare, acclimatised to Australian conditions so swiftly, and so formidably.
Trainer Chris Waller immediately declared Via Sistina his top seed for the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 26.
And bookmakers wound her in to $4.50 second favouritism for that race, which shapes as a mouth-watering rematch with Pride Of Jenni, the $4 favourite.
Sent out an easing $11 chance in the weight for age, $1 million contest, Via Sistina settled second last of the 12 as Tropical Squall (Prized Icon) and Zougotcha (Zoustar) set the pace.
Also resuming, Zougotcha had support at around $6.50, and her backers will have been hopeful when Tommy Berry shot her to the lead at the 300 metres.
McDonald had pulled to the outside on $2.40 favourite Fangirl as punters braced for the familiar finish seen when she took out last year’s edition.
Instead it was Via Sistina, pushed up quietly by McEvoy to seventh on the fence at the 600m, who did the swooping. More impressively still, it came on the inside, with the mare powering home to pip Zougotcha by 0.07 lengths.
Fangirl could only manage third, beaten 0.49 lengths, in an all-Waller trifecta, while Ciaron Maher’s Semana (Winning Rupert) completed an all-mares first four.
“Obviously, she’s a very smart horse, and yeah, privileged to be training horses like her,” Waller said. “She’s a pick-up addition to the stable. The others are stalwarts and she’s beaten them today.
“It was a beautiful ride from Kerrin he didn’t go around a horse, saved ground and had plenty of horse topping the famous Randwick rise. She was strong all the way to the line.”
Waller, who had six of the 12 starters, said Flemington’s Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) would be the main next target Via Sistina, and that he would try to keep his Winx Stakes trifecta runners apart en route to Moonee Valley.
“The plan was the Makybe Diva in three weeks,” Waller said of Via Sistina.
“I’ve just got to split them up a bit now – all three could have won a Group 1 race if their stablemates weren’t there, so I don’t want to waste too many.
“Via Sistina is probably our number one seed for the Cox Plate, unless Fangirl wins like she did in the King Charles [Stakes] again.”
McEvoy said the fact a middle distance galloper in Via Sistina had performed so well over 1400 metres first-up was a great sign.
“She’s just a winner basically,” McEvoy said.
“I just wanted to let her tell me where she wanted to be. She jumped in the air a little bit and got sort of back and ended up on the rail, inside Fangirl and I just thought, I’ll cut the corner. I thought I’d just make it a little bit easier, rather than James [McDonald] who got shuffled back a little and had to come wide.”
“When I got to the corner, I sort of saved a bit of ground and then went to the inside, but I was happy to do that because I think it’s drying out all day.
“She really motored the last furlong, so fantastic training effort to see her do that first-up at that level, and the world is her oyster this prep now.”
Bred by the UK’s Laundry Cottage Stud, and originally bought for just 5,000gns by bloodstock agent Stephen Hillen and wife Becky at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale in 2019, Via Sistina now has seven wins and six placings from 16 starts, for $3.2 million in earnings.
She’s the fourth of seven named foals – and one of only two winners – for unraced mare Nigh (Galileo), a half-sister to dual Group 1-winning sprinter Kingsgate Native (Mujadil).
Via Sistina is from the fifth-last northern crop of former shuttler Fastnet Rock (Danehill), the great Coolmore stallion who’s now enjoying retirement, aged 23.
Zougotcha was brave in defeat after being exposed early in the straight, while Waller was also proud of Fangirl, hampered by gate nine in her first run since a life-threatening injury in the autumn
“The barrier draw wasn’t kind to her when they came out and it probably cost her a little bit more than Via Sistina, where she had the nice run,” he said.
“It would have been fitting to get a win, but I don’t think the owners of the first three horses will be disappointed.”
Via Sistina’s win was the first leg of a race-to-race Group double for recently-acquired Yulong mares, with Kimochi (Brave Smash) – bought for $2.2 million at May’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale – also adding to her breeding value by taking the Toy Show Quality (Gr 3, 1100m) first-up 40 minutes later in her second Group success.