Juvenile and 3YO summary: Storyville triumphs in WA Guineas, freakish win by Return to Conquer

Cover image courtesy of Western Racepix

Williams and Pike do it again with Storyville in WA Guineas

In a story that is all too familiar Grant and Alana Williams have combined with William Pike to take out the G2 WA Guineas with Storyville (Overshare), who came from well back with a barnstorming finish to get up in the shadows of the post at Ascot on Saturday.

London’s Image (Headwater) under Declan Bates set a cracking speed in front and for a fleeting moment looked as if they may have pinched the 3-year-old feature, however inside the 100 metres the Ryan Hill-trained filly began to feel the pinch and the swoopers began to pounce. Ultimately, it was Pike on Storyville who finished best, driving hard to the line to edge out The Merryman (Epaulette) by 0.3l, with a further 0.2l back to Olympic Park (Ocean Park) (NZ) in third.

It was the fourth win in the race for both Williams and Pike; an incredible achievement.

“That was so good, wasn’t it, unbelievable,” Grant Williams said.

“A lot of great loyal owners, some of my best long-term owners and obviously Lans has bred it. I’ve got the jitters; I’ll have them tomorrow too I reckon.

“This goes back to work we’ve done with Willy (Pike) too. It’s such a good team effort. We had a chat a couple of weeks ago, obviously things weren’t going right – I was like what are you doing? Just go back to what you do. He was trying to put them in spots and trying to keep them out of trouble, but 3-year-olds have to be strong to ride them like that. And although our horses are fit and strong they are not mentally, but the mental part comes when they win. It was good that we put the train back on the tracks.

“Wow, we won a Guineas!”

Storyville had impressed with her scintillating win in the WA Champion Fillies S. in the lead up to the WA Guineas and now looks poised for a tilt at the Group 1 Northerly S. (1800 metres) although Pike has his reservations.

“It was a great effort,” Pike said.

“I think she wasn’t the same horse as she was last week. She is usually pretty bubbly and up and about, so I think she was probably only about 80 per cent or 90 per cent of what she is capable of there. Hopefully they can pick her back up and have a tilt at the next one, in the Northerly.

“I thought she was a one trick pony, straight to the front, lead all day, massive stride, high head carriage – I never thought she’d be a horse that could sit and find the line as well as she does but happy to be proven wrong.”

Storyville is a half-sister to stakes-placed winners Crescent City (Fiorente) and Axeman's Jazz (Dundeel {NZ}). She was bred by her trainers and is the fourth winner from unraced mare New Orleans (Time Thief), who is a half-sister to the seven-time stakes winner Battle Hero (Stratum).

New Orleans has a yearling sister to Storyville and foaled a filly by Toronado (Ire) this season.

Gallery: Images courtesy of Wetsern Racepix

Te Akau unveils ‘freak’ 2YO in Listed Counties Challenge Stakes

Return To Conquer (Snitzel) gave nothing else a chance, leading all the way to justify his prohibitive odds and stamp himself as a horse with a big future in Saturday’s Listed Counties Challenge S. (1100 metres) at Pukekohe Park.

A $1.3 million Magic Millions graduate sold by Blue Gum Farm to Te Akau Racing, the Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained colt garnered plenty of attention on the back of three smart trial victories to start $1.20 favourite and did not disappoint, bursting clear in the straight under Wiremu Pinn to win by 2.5l, eased down.

“He’s an absolute machine,” Pinn said after the race.

“I’ve ridden some pretty good horses in my time, and he is right up there. He gave me an unbelievable feel and to be honest he hasn’t even tried today. He’s a freak of a horse and they can definitely push on with him.

“Mark had a plan to chase them because that’s what he has been taught to do in the trials, but I thought, I’m on the best horse in the race here I want to take luck out of the equation and just lead and if they are good enough, they can try and catch me but they didn’t.

“He’s only had the couple of trials and it’s his debut today, so he still has plenty to learn but he’s a super horse.”

The win has given co-trainer Mark Walker plenty to think about, with a possible trip across the Tasman well and truly on the cards, especially considering Return to Conquer is not eligible for the rich Karaka Millions.

“We had a plan ‘A’ and a plan ‘B’ and it ended up plan ‘B’, he ended up leading but he did it quite nicely in the end which was pleasing,” Walker said. “He can have a little break now and we will work out plans after that.

“We will look at all options, but the main thing is to give him 10 days out now and see how well he does. There are Matamata trials on January 14, he will probably resume at those trials and then we will look at Australia or whether we stay and look at the Sistema or something like that, but we will work it out.”

Return to Conquer is the first runner out of unraced mare Vaujany (Lonhro), who is a full sister to Group 2 winner Ghisoni (Lonhro). It’s a deep pedigree which stems from third dam Snowdrift (Polish Precedent {USA}); dam of Group 1 winner Snowland (Snippets), Listed winner Snippetson and Return to Conquer’s grandam Portillo (Red Ransom), who won at Group 2 level and was also placed in the G1 Flight S. and G1 Golden Slipper.

Vaujany was due a foal by Zoustar this season but unfortunately died early in 2024.

Return to Conquer became champion sire Snitzel’s 153rd stakes winner and 58th juvenile stakes winner.

Snitzel stands at Arrowfield Stud at a fee $247,500 (inc GST).

Another exciting 3-year-old for McDonald stable

Clinton McDonald appears to have unearthed another top 3-year-old prospect after Refusetobeenglish (NZ) (Churchill {Ire}) scored an impressive debut victory in the opening event on Cranbourne Cup Day on Saturday.

McDonald has already produced a number exciting 3-year-olds this season, including; G1 Moir S. runner up Hayasugi (Royal Meeting {Ire}), G3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude victor Angel Capital (Harry Angel {Ire}), $1 million VOBIS Showdown winner Stanley Express (Starspangledbanner), recent G3 Thoroughbred Club S. winner Jasmin Rouge (Dundeel {NZ}) as well as G3 Red Roses runner-up Vestas (Toronado {Ire}).

And McDonald believes Refusetobeenglish could be just as good as them after storming home from midfield to defeat a talented and more experienced field in the Frankston Sand Soil & Mini Mix 3YO H. (1200 metres).

With just six runners in the field, Refusetobeeenglish found a comfortable position along the rail, settling into a handy fourth place. On straightening, Ben Melham angled his mount into the clear with Refusetobeenglish unleashing a devastating turn of foot, rapidly closing the gap and blowing past the tiring leader and race favourite Romani Ite Domum (Ribchester {Ire}), drawing away with authority to win by 3.5l.

“He’s up there, he’s a proper horse,” McDonald said. “We have a pretty good handle on things with the 3-year-olds we are producing, and he is up there with them.

“He does everything right, he’s got a great mannerism to him. He came here today like he’s been here 100 times, walked around the yard. You just have to see the way he travelled through the run, he didn’t want to overdo it and when Benny (Melham) gave him a click he was there to respond.

“He’s got all the right attributes to be a really good horse and hopefully he can get there.

“Shane McGrath bought him 12 months ago at the Ready to Run sale. The first time we galloped him there was something there and he just kept getting better and better.

“He’s an exciting horse.”

While unsure of his immediate plans for the son of Churchill (Ire), McDonald put forward the idea of trying to secure a slot in the new $3 million Magic Millions Sunlight (1100 metres) for 3-year-olds; a race he has also eyed with stablemates Vestas and Jasmin Rouge.

“It’s one of those things where we could give him a little break and bring him back but there’s also that slot race on the Gold Coast if there are any slot holders looking for a nice horse,” McDonald said.

Jockey, Ben Melham indicated he had drawn a lot of confidence from his trackwork last Tuesday.

“He’s a really promising horse, obviously he had to be to come here and perform like he did against opposition with race experience and some quality horses that have just been around more than him. He put it all together well,” Melham said.

“He is not really a speed horse, he has been a bit tardy away in his trials but we brought him out here on Tuesday morning and he worked really well against an older horse. We were mindful he might be a little slowly away, but the small field probably helped him. He had a sweet run, but he was never really in doubt.”

A 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale graduate, Refusetobeenglish was bought for NZ$120,000 by Harbour Racing from the draft of Lilywhites Lodge. He is the fifth winner from five foals to race from Group 1-winning mare Irish Fling (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}).

Churchill stands at Coolmore at a fee of $19,800 (inc GST).

Yes Yes Yes filly too slick in Crystal Slipper

The Dion Luciani-trained Yes Queen (Yes Yes Yes) turned on the afterburners to scorch the Ascot turf and lead all the way in the Magic Millions Crystal Slipper S. (1100 Metres) on Saturday.

Yes Queen had shown an abundance of speed in her two trial victories and put it to good use again on race day, effortlessly crossing the field from barrier eight to take up control of the race under William Pike. Odds-on favourite Talkanco (I’m All The Talk) stalked her all the way and the pair cleared out to fight out the race in the final furlong but it was Yes Queen that proved to have the superior turn of foot, holding a margin of 1.4l to the line with Backchatting (I’m All The Talk) a further 5.2l back in third.

“Her trials have been very, very raw but very, very sharp,” trainer Dion Luciani said.

“Obviously, they have to put it all together race day but she certainly had the speed and when you have someone like Willy Pike on board it makes the task a lot easier as well.

“I was a little bit stressed pre-race because she is a little bit of a hot head, when she was in the barriers for as long as she was, and there was a few things going on. But once they had gone 100 metres and I saw her in front in a good stride it made me a feel a lot more comfortable.

“She will go to the paddock now. It is only her first preparation since getting broken in. Brett Fogarty and I had a discussion yesterday and we were 50/50 going to pull her out today because we just didn’t want to ask too much in that first campaign and we made a final decision this morning to run her but she will be straight to the paddock. She looks like she will be sharp enough to target those better races next year.”

William Pike described Yes Queen as having the perfect mix of speed and smarts.

“It was very nice. Her trials before today were nice as well,” Pike said.

“She is a lovely blend between a firecracker but also user friendly. She let me come off the gas, conserve a little and then kick so it’s a really nice blend for a rider that you have got speed but also control it.”

Yes Queen is a homebred for Cape Falls Thoroughbreds and is the third winner of four to race from stakes-placed mare Timely Queen (Danetime).

Everest winner Yes Yes Yes stands at Coolmore at a fee of $19,250 (inc GST).

Karavas breaks drought in Rebel Raider Series Final

The Richard Jolly-trained Karavas (Alabama Express) was back in the winners’ stall after a 412-day winless streak when taking out the Rebel Raider Series Final (1200 metres) at Morphettville on Saturday.

After failing to fire in the G2 Red Roses S. (1100 metres) during the Melbourne Cup Carnival, it was a good return to form for the 3-year-old filly who made a late charge from the back of the pack under apprentice Taylor Johnstone, sweeping to the front in the dying stages to secure her second career win by 0.7l.

Karavas won on debut at Murray Bridge as a juvenile back in 2023 but has struggled to find more wins despite her consistent performances in Group races, something her trainer Richard Jolly is desperate to change.

“She hasn't won a stakes race yet, but she has placed in stakes and Group 3 events,” Jolly said. “We just need to secure that Listed win for her. She's always been a talented filly, and it's great to see her achieve what she did today.”

Jolly believes the decision to take off the blinkers for this race, along with a change in strategy, may have been the catalyst to see Karavas across the line first on Saturday.

“I felt they weren't pushing her enough, and with the drop back to 1200 metres, we aimed to ride her more quietly to help her finish strong, which worked out well,” he said.

Karavas is out of winning mare All Of Me (Pierro), a half-sister to Group 2 winners Solicit (Street Cry {Ire}) and Star Of Giselle (Reset), while her third dam is Group 1 winner Kapchat (Centaine).

Karavas was a $260,000 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale purchase by Richard and Chantelle Jolly Racing.