Repeat performers: The horses taking another shot at the G1 Railway Stakes

Cover image courtesy of Western Racepix

In the rising heat of late November, the Ascot Carnival looms large over West Australian racing. The G1 Railway S. is the first of three Group 1 races in the carnival, and this year’s renewal will be held on Saturday with five of the 16-horse field returning from last year’s edition. That number climbs to seven if you count two of last year’s emergencies, their ratings this year promoting them to the main field.

Tudor Mak (Makarpura {GB}) remains the only horse to have won the race back to back, taking out the 1966 and 1967 editions of the race, when it was run over 1500 metres.

The formidable Luckygray (Bradbury’s Luck) has been the only competitor since Tudor Mak to win the race twice, winning - albeit in the stewards room - with 53kg in 2011 and again in 2013 carrying the top weight of 58kg. The gelding ran second in the 2012 edition carrying 4.5kg more than the winner, Mr Moet (Mosayter {USA}) and, despite a trademark burst of speed in the home straight, ceded 0.75l to him at the line. The influential Playing God and his full brother God Has Spoken placed fourth and fifth respectively in the same running.

Attempting the double

Last year’s winner Bustler (Playing God) is hoping to update the record. The second seed on Saturday is trained by Neville Parnham, who was also in charge of his father’s career on the track, and announced himself as a rising talent by winning his first four starts, culminating in the Listed Fairetha S., which runs on the same day as traditional Railway run-up race, the G2 Lee Steere S. Bustler was narrowly beaten by Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni {Fr}) in the G2 West Australia Guineas and again in the G1 Northerly S. to close out a stellar first full racing preparation.

Last year, he denied William Pike and training team Grant and Alana Williams an unmatched sixth win in the Railway when he downed favourite Alsephina (Star Turn) by 1.04l. His weight leaps from 53kg to 56kg, and usually that extra weight is what stops repeat runners. Only two runners since Luckygray have managed victory with more than the minimum weight, and both Great Shot (Magnus) and Elite Belle (Canny Lad) only carried an additional 500 grams. Parnham still believes he has a fighting chance.

“He's been working the place down, I couldn't be more happy with the horse,” he said. “History probably says that the odds are against him in the weight (that) he's got to carry, because over the last 20 odd years, there's only been one or two horses that have won with any more than about 53 kilos.

"Four-year-olds have a good record, so (that) probably brings my other horse into it, Zipaway.

“But at the end of the day, Bustler, he hasn't put a foot wrong in this whole preparation. He had a nice run first up, and then his second up run was outstanding, and he drops three kilos on that run. He’s not a big horse and he'll appreciate that probably more than others.”

Bustler's regular jockey Steven Parnham has chosen to switch to his father’s other entrant in this year’s edition of the race, choosing to instead partner Zipaway (Playing God), who was part of the Parnham’s feature race double last year when he took out the West Australia Guineas. Parnham (jnr) told Julio Santarelli at Racing WA that the lower weight had been a huge deciding factor for him.

“Over the years, the Railway has favoured horses that are able to get in on the minimum,” he said. “Zipaway fitted that, but it hurts to get off Bustler because he’s been a great horse to me.

“In terms of their performances there is little to pick between them. It’s exciting to go into a Railway with a leading chance.”

The ideal barrier

The 2022 victor Trix Of The Trade (Trade Fair {GB}) bids to replicate Luckygray’s feat, having finished a game fourth in last year’s event. The gelding’s trainer Colin Webster was 82 when the then 4-year-old handed him his first Group 1 win in over 40 years - Webster trained Queen Inca (Jungle Boy {GB}) to win the then G1 West Australian Oaks in 1980. The veteran trainer, who calls Trix Of The Trade the best horse he has ever had in the race, sees a chance of Railway redemption on the horizon.

“We're very happy with him,” Webster said. “He's had two runs this time in, that's the way we planned it. His last run (7th in the Lee Steere by 1.35l) with the weights raised this year was, we thought, a very, very good run. He carried a big weight in that, but he drops to 53kg in the Railway, that's the weight that he won with two years ago.

“(I’m) a bit happier with barrier eight, which is great, but if the emergencies don't get a start, you're coming in to (barrier) six. They're ideal barriers for him.”

Last year, Trix Of The Trade drew barrier one, a tough spot on Ascot’s mile with a capacity field of 16 horses. The gelding, partnered by Webster’s former apprentice Troy Turner who had also been aboard for the 2022 victory, was boxed in for most of the home straight and still managed to finish 2.23l off the winner.

“That (barrier) cost us doing better than fourth,” Webster said.

One more chance for Comfort Me

Rhys Radford believes that fourth time’s the charm for Comfort Me (Playing God), who returns for the fourth year running for another shot at the race. The 8-year-old gelding fared best in his first two attempts, running second in 2021 and 2022 before finishing seventh last year. In a bizarre twist of fate, this is the first time where he will not jump from barrier 15, which he has drawn for three years running.

“He is an off-pace runner, so the closer the fence he can get, the better,” Radford said. “It definitely helps.

“He's quite a nice horse, so it (winning) is definitely not beyond him. The barrier draws each year have probably always made it a bit harder for us.”

Radford is no stranger to the Railway, training Great Shot for his 2017 win. Great Shot also returned for the 2018 and 2020 editions of the race, but was unable to replicate Luckygray's feat. Both horses have been owned by Radford’s long-time owner Francis Edwards, who bred this year’s runner.

Comfort Me also came through the tight finish in the Lee Steere earlier in the month, and will be joined by seven other members of that 11 horse field on Saturday. Among them will be Searchin’ Roc’s (Awesome Rock), who will bid to improve off of her unplaced finishes in the last two editions. Her trainer Jim Taylor thinks that it could be third time lucky.

“She's drawn a lot better than she's been drawing lately,” he said. “She's had two very hard runs leading into it because she's been the widest runner both times.”

“She's had diabolical runs. She was four and five wide two starts ago (5th in the G3 Eurythmic S.), and still held on well to run not that far from the winner. Then last start, she was three deep, running into a very strong headwind down the back - no horse won on the day hitting the breeze.

“And she still fought on and got beaten just over a length.”

After the mare was severely checked in the home straight last year and dropped back to 11th, Taylor hopes this year will be her chance to shine, particularly for her owner-breeders, Heather and Robert Grant.

“They love their horses,” Taylor said. “Their horses are like their grandchildren, that's how they treat them. They've just got two or three broodmares, a little boutique operation, and she's got a full sister that's had one trial and is having another trial on Monday. I think she goes quite good as well.”

Staying talent

One of last year’s emergencies, Casino Seventeen (Casino Prince) ran second in the Listed AJ Scahill Cup on the day, before winning the G2 Perth Cup in January for Grant and Alana Williams. His rapid rise in rating, helped by his last start victory in the Lee Steere, bumps him up to saddle blanket number three on Saturday and grants him the same weight as Bustler.

The 7-year-old gelding is well-travelled, having been sold as a yearling through Widden Stud’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale draft and winning his maiden at Gawler, before brief stints being trained in Darwin and Tamworth. In 2022, he was purchased by Andrew Latassa and travelled to the Williams’ Western Australian stables, and has set about raking in the black type ever since. But it didn’t always appear like he would be a winner.

“He couldn't win a gallop,” co-trainer Alana Williams recalled. “Still can't win a gallop. He was very average at the trials. We put him in a race one day to give him a run and see where he was at, and he nearly won it, so after that we knew he had something decent.”

Casino Seventeen has been more than decent, displaying his tenacity first up in the Lee Steere where he emerged victorious in the 1400-metre contest after being 10th with 400 metres to the line. Carrying a second top weight of 56kg doesn’t overly worry Williams.

“I think it's a pretty open race (this year),” she said. “Normally a horse on the minimum (weight) will win, but I think he definitely gets a chance if he can repeat his first up win.

“We'll worry about our own horse and try to get him right on the day.”

Interstate raiders

Five members of the field will come from interstate stables, up from two last year, with Ciaron Maher sending two entrants and the other three shared between Sydney’s top trainers. Chris Waller is the only one to have won before, taking out the 2015 running with Good Project (Not A Single Doubt). Bjorn Baker and Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald’s partnership have one runner apiece, with both entered for the $1,500,000 Gold Rush in mid December.

“I don't think the trainers would send them over unless they were pretty confident that they'd do well, but they still have to travel from one side of Australia to the other,” said Webster. “And then they've got to acclimatise and get used to racing at Ascot.”

For Taylor, victory would be all the sweeter with their presence.

“That's what promotes racing,” he said. “I know it's all good to have it all in your own backyard, but we need those horses and trainers and jockeys to promote the races over here. It's quite exciting.”

Sweeter still will be one of the five returning runners crossing the line first, and giving their connections a smashing start to the Ascot carnival.

“I’ve been lucky to win a couple of Winterbottoms, but the Railway is next level,” Taylor added. “It’s what every trainer wants to win.”

Table: Runners who have competed in previous editions of the G1 Railway S.