Saturday summary: Via Sistina equals Winx's season record in emphatic Queen Elizabeth win

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Queen Elizabeth victory puts Via Sistina on equal footing with Winx

She may not be able to equal Winx’s (Street Cry {ire}) years-long unbeaten streak, but Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock) can now stand beside Australasia’s greatest racemare as equal winners of the most Group 1s in one racing season, after victory in the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday took her season total to seven.

Rivals had come from across the globe to beat her, but none could match Via Sistina’s turn of foot in the end. The 7-year-old mare settled mid field after jumping well, with her compatriot in bottle green and white Deny Knowledge (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai) surging to the lead early.

The pack shuffled coming into the home turn, with the ever consistent Lindermann (Lonhro) finding the front, and for a moment it looked like Via Sistina wouldn’t extricate herself from beside Tom Kitten (Harry Angel {Ire}), but she put any doubters to bed in the last 200 metres, hitting the front and dashing home to beat William Haggas’ challenger Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai) by 1.75l.

Tom Kitten and Lindermann had to fight it out for third and fourth, ahead of Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}). Via Sistina also came within a hair’s breadth of the track record, crossing the line just 0.11s slower than Hampton Court’s time over 2000 metres in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes in 2014.

Trainer Chris Waller was emotional when speaking post-race, “she just keeps turning up every week, I’d like to have a few more like her. And we have, we’ve got a great team, but she just shows the difference between a good horse and a champion.

“It was an economical run, we had the right man aboard. James (McDonald) has continued to mature and not panic, that’s the key to winning these big races. The big jockeys win them all the time, to have one of them on your horse’s back is a big plus for your team.

“She’s a big, big horse and she’s quite scary really. We don’t ask her too much at home, we just hold it together and know that it’s there (on) raceday.

“You’re looking for them to sprint, and when she sprints, the acceleration is there. We’re still getting to know her, it’s as simple as that and she’s well into her twilight years. It’s scary, really, how good she is.”

Before the race, Waller had told the media that he believes she could be back just as good for the spring, if Yulong decide to take that avenue.

“Chris just trains her up beautifully every time,” McDonald said. “He did it for a Cox Plate, he’s done it for the Queen Elizabeth.

“You could poke holes in her performances coming into today because she hasn’t been winning by big margins, but that’s the type of horse she is now, she only does what she has to.”

Taking her prizemoney over $12.8 million, Via Sistina has won 13 starts from 24, including eight starts across 11 in Australia. She was second in this race last year to Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai), which, despite the larger margin, was run over 1.5s slower, with the last 600 metres coming 2.5s slower than Via Sistina’s time on Saturday.

Via Sistina was a 2.7 million gns ($5.9 million) purchase for Yulong, trading as Evergreen Equine, at the 2023 Tattersalls December Mare Sale. Yulong also purchased her dam Nigh (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) at the same sale for 200,000 gns ($437,000) and her 3-year-old half-sister Via Sienna (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}) at the 2024 Arqana Deauville Vente d'Élevage for €400,000 ($723,000), both under different trade names.

The result capped off a huge hour for the enterprise, who won the G1 Australian Oaks two races before with Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express).

Ever consistent Fangirl anointed Queen Of The Turf

Jockey James McDonald strung together a back-to-back Group 1 double with Chris Waller on Saturday, backing up Via Sistina’s emphatic Queen Elizabeth win with a different queen a race later, taking out the G1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes with Fangirl (Sebring). The Ingham Racing-owned 6-year-old mare had her autumn path diverge from following Via Sistina at her last start, and it paid off to not be in Yulong’s great mare’s shadow at Randwick this weekend.

Connections’ - and punters who backed her into $1.60 favouritism - hearts would have been in their mouths as Fangirl rounded the home turn in the 1600-metre contest last in the field, but McDonald was able to thread a path through and pounce on Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel), muscling past her to emerge victorious by 0.84l, with last-start G1 Doncaster Handicap winner Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard) lifting off the canvas late to split them.

“(It’s) an amazing team of owners, that’s a huge thing in itself,” Waller said. “There’s so many great stories with any winner on the racetrack, but the Group 1s on big days like today, it really is special. So I don’t know where to start.

“She won her first race in Goulburn during COVID, if I remember. She’s come a long way. Each preparation, she just stands up and she’s counted.

“We took a step back today from the Queen Elizabeth, but she’ll get her time in another 2000-metre race, I promise you that.

“Obviously, today means so much. We’ve got to have horses winning, and the big races especially. We would have liked to have had a crack at the Queen Elizabeth, but Via Sistina was flying, and I didn’t want to break her heart.”

“She’s a great mare, love her to bits,” said McDonald, who rode her “like she was a 10 to one chance” in the race.

Chalking up her 11th career win, Fangirl’s earnings soar over the $10 million mark including bonuses.

Another moment for Yulong to treasure in sensational Oaks double

It was the start of a sensational hour for the Yulong team when Treasurethe Moment, their homebred daughter of their own foundation stallion Alabama Express, notched a historic Oaks double with victory in the G1 Australian Oaks.

Trained by Matt Laurie, the 3-year-old filly faced a field of just eight opponents on Saturday at Randwick’s starting gates, and she settled back in the field, letting Sun ‘N’ Sand (Pride Of Dubai) dictate the pace up front. On the home turn, the filly made her move, starting to wind up alongside G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Leica Lucy (NZ) (Derryn) - but her turn of foot was too good for the rest of them.

Clocking 33.93s for the last 600 metres in the 2400-metre event - faster than Via Sistina’s time in the 2000-metre Queen Elizabeth and just a fraction slower than the G2 Percy Sykes Stakes - Treasurethe Moment stormed home to win her eighth consecutive race and third career Group 1.

The last filly to achieve this historic double was Serenade Rose (Stravinsky {USA}) in 2006.

“I was pretty nervous about today,” Laurie said. “I mean, a small field and 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, 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. 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 (Lane) will give us a good guide on the following preparation, but I’m obviously just a bit emotional about the last few months.

“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.”

Jockey Damien Lane was pleased with the filly’s tenacity, saying, “she ended up knuckling down when it counted, just those real good special horses do, just find a way.

“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 the third and last foal from Draconic Treasure (USA) (Street Cry {Ire}), whose close family includes globetrotting sprinter-miler Rich Tapestry (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who won stakes races in the United States, Dubai, and Hong Kong. Treasurethe Moment’s older sister Kind Treasure (Frankel {GB}) is in foal to Alabama Express this season.

Arapaho scorches to new track record in Sydney Cup

The Championships have been a successful pair of meetings for Bjorn Baker; last week Stefi Magnetica flew home to victory in the G1 Doncaster Handicap and this Saturday, it was the turn of Arapaho (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) to have his turn in the sun with a blitzing victory in the G1 Sydney Cup at Randwick.

The 2023 G1 Tancred Stakes-winning 8-year-old has had a few near misses this preparation, including being denied by a nose in the G3 Sky High Stakes by Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), but the huge field couldn’t hold him back in the Sydney Cup.

As 20 horses fanned out across the track in the home straight, Rachel King pushed the gelding out front and he darted home to win by 2.95l over Waltham (GB) (Roaring Lion {USA}), shaving 0.69s off of the previous track record for 3200 metres, which had stood since Apollo Eleven (NZ) (Cyrus {Ire}) won this race in 1973.

"We get a bit emotional about this horse at the stables, we love him," Baker said. "And we gave him a bit of Murray Baker treatment on Thursday and he relaxed beautifully today.

"That entails just doing a solid piece of ground work, and he's a sound horse. We know he's got acceleration, and that's where having a father that won everything but the Melbourne Cup comes into it.

"It was a great ride by Rachel King. She just held him up, held him up, and he exploded, which he can do."

"You can just see what this horse means to everyone," King said. "He's just been a superstar. He's won races we never thought he should have been in at the start.”

Arapaho has now won 10 starts and over $4 million in prizemoney. His 6-year-old half-brother Athabascan (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}), who is trained by John O'Shea and Tom Charlton, ran fifth in the same event by 4.33l.

Enriched boosts his stud profile with electric Sprint victory

The withdrawal of unbeaten filly Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) on Saturday morning likely came as a relief to some starters in the G2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint, and none moreso than the connections of Enriched (I Am Invincible), who went down to the filly to the Listed Dalrello Stakes last start. The Michael Freedman-trained colt more than made up for it on Saturday afternoon with a storming victory in the race at Randwick’s second day of the Championships.

Settling just behind the leader Imperial Force (Snitzel), Enriched made no challenge to the pace until late in the event, revving the engine within the last two furlongs to snatch victory away from Imperial Force by 0.33l, with classy grey Public Attention (NZ) (Written Tycoon) closing into third.

“Yeah, look, obviously coming into today, we were wondering whether we were going to have enough improvement in us to beat the filly, so when she got scratched this morning, it opened the race up quite a bit,” Freedman said.

“Tommy and I had a good chat this morning about being positive from the gate, sitting either leader’s girth - which is what he ended up doing - or even I wouldn’t have been opposed to him leading.

“Good turn of foot, that colt, he’s a high-class horse. Very well bred, so who knows, maybe he’s got a future at stud somewhere.”

Winners of the Sprint to head to stud in the last decade include Wild Ruler, Splintex, and Derryn.

“It’s one of those races that there’s been some very good colts win it in the past that have gone to stud. Terrific result, there’s such a great bunch of owners.”

Jockey Tommy Berry had a big opinion of the colt, “It made it a bit easier with the filly being out today, but he would have given her a run for her money and might not have beaten her, she’s pretty special, but he’s a good colt; he’s very well-bred, so that will go a long way.”

Enriched has a particularly special flair to his pedigree, being out of Miss Atom Bomb (Encosta De Lago), a half-sister to the indomitable Winx. Miss Atom Bomb foaled a colt by Snitzel in the spring and subsequently returned to I Am Invincible to repeat the cross.

Michael Freedman Racing, Gandharvi, and Mick Wallace paid $450,000 for the son of I Am Invincible at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2023, and he is closing on breaking through $1 million in prizemoney with three wins under his belt from nine starts.

First Group victory for Infancy in Sapphire

Kris Lees-trained 4-year-old mare Infancy (Wandjina) updated her page significantly with victory in the G2 Sapphire Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. Previously the winner of the Listed Fireball Stakes this time last year, the mare put in a huge performance, despite rounding the home turn last and widest on the track, to overcome short-priced favourite Commemorative (I Am Invincible) by 0.41l to win.

“She’s a backmarker so you never go in with great confidence,” Lees said.” I was confident she was at her best, which she’d need to be against this field..

“(She) got a lovely ride from Jason (Collett), he got it right in the first half and was able to peel off and give us some clear air and she did the rest, but she’s got a really good Randwick record.

“(As) she’s a backmarker, so if you go through her form, there’s a few hard luck stories amongst it, but she had the luck today.

“She’s got a bit more racing, so onwards and upwards. She does like her runs spaced, so we’ll just have her have an easy week and then we’ll decide.”

Bred and owned by Australian Bloodstock, Infancy is the second foal from Childhood (USA) (Lonhro), a dual winner as a juvenile who is a half to three stakes winners. She was served by Tassort in the spring after slipping when in foal to Bivouac.

Wonder Boy lives up to name in Bendigo Guineas

Wonder Boy chalked up a third stakeswinner for his sire Cosmic Force on Saturday with a decisive victory in the Listed Bendigo Guineas. Trained by Mornington-based Jerome Hunter, the 3-year-old gelding was denied last start in the G2 Phar Lap Stakes by Lazzura (Snitzel) at Rosehill Gardens in March, and running closer to home was the right move this time as he soundly beat Kalkallo (Alabama Express) by 0.5l in the 1400-metre event.

"It's been a while (10 months) between wins for this horse," Hunter said. "I've been happy with all of his preparation, a lot of people going off him, but I've had faith in the horse and I know he's only going to get bigger and better as he gets older.

"Last preparation, he was just a big young kid, now he knows what he has to do. Long term, as long as he gets his rating up, I'd like to go for the Golden Eagle."

Wonder Boy was a $125,000 purchase for Hunter under the Graeber Park banner, for owner Graeme Gathercole, at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale from Rothwell Park Thoroughbreds. His dam, eight-time winner Beatniks (Haradasun), is back in foal to Cosmic Force this season.