History says they’ll train on - but first, they have to win it

Cover image courtesy of Sportpix

The 12 runners in the 2025 G1 Champagne Stakes are by 11 different stallions, and it’s a broad selection with Brutal (NZ), Capitalist, Dundeel (NZ), I Am Invincible, Lucky Vega (Ire), Ole Kirk, Tagaloa, Wootton Bassett (GB), Written By, and Zousain. Trapeze Artist is the only sire with two runners, being the colt Michelangelo and the filly Tupakara.

Strong first-crop sires line up against the heavyweights. Only one will walk away with a Group 1 winner - and a serious stallion marketing edge.

With G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Devil Night (Extreme Choice), G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner Marhoona (Snitzel), and G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Vinrock (I Am Invincible) all in the spelling paddock, one lucky juvenile will be celebrating a maiden Group 1 win on Saturday.

Table: Last 15 winners of the juvenile Group 1 races in Australia

Following in Broadsiding’s footsteps

Last year’s winner Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot {GB}) came into the race having won the Listed Fernhill Stakes, and in the last 15 years, only one other horse has taken this path; Prized Icon was also victorious in the Champagne. It might just be the trick this year, with Tagaloa’s unbeaten filly Spicy Lu bringing the same form - and just like Spicy Lu, Broadsiding was also from the first crop of his sire.

“It wasn’t planned (to come to the Champagne), but every challenge we’ve given her, she’s handled easily. She’s an unbeaten filly and we don’t know how good she could be,” said trainer Nick Olive, who pointed out that her first two wins were against older horses.

“She’s come through the run well on Saturday and I’m looking forward to seeing her step up to her next challenge. The race has a pretty good honour roll!”

Nick Olive Racing purchased Spicy Lu for $30,000 from Vinery Stud’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft, and she’s already earned $139,000 in her three wins to date.

“If you’re spending 30 grand, anyone thinking you’re buying a Group 1 horse are probably kidding themselves. She was very athletic, a nice moving filly. That was what I liked the most. I was keen on another Tagaloa when I got to the sales and I ended up looking at her and I switched because I liked her more.

"You can’t see what’s inside a horse, their will to win and that sort of thing, it’s hard to pick that at the sales," Olive told racingnsw.com.au on Wednesday.

The Sires’ Produce as a lead up

In the last 15 years, only three Champagne winners didn’t run in the G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes before winning the third leg of the juvenile Triple Crown; the aforementioned Fernhill Stakes winners Broadsiding and Prized Icon, as well as G3 SAJC Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Go Indy Go (Bernardini {USA}).

A third of the last 15 Champagne winners also won the Sires’ Produce at their start prior to adding their name to the Champagne’s winner’s board, being Militarize (NZ) (Dundeel {NZ}), King’s Legacy, Guelph (Exceed And Excel), Pierro, and Helmet.

A further four were placed in the Sires’ Produce in their lead-ups; She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) and Skilled were both second, Captivant and Castelvecchio were third, while Pasadena Girl (NZ) (Savabeel) was fourth.

Table: Last 15 winners of the Champagne with the G1 Sires' Produce Stakes results

This year, placegetters State Visit (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Buffalo (Written By) both came through the Sires’ Produce, while - as previously mentioned - the winner of this year’s edition, Vinrock, has been taken out of the equation as he rests ahead of big spring targets.

Federalist (I Am Invincible) and Bellazaine (Zousain) will both attempt to copy Seabrook (NZ) (Hinchinbrook) and The Mission, who were unplaced in the Sires’ before winning the Champagne.

Dundeel’s influence

In the last 15 years, only two stallions have sired two winners of the race, being the retired Exceed And Excel, who doesn’t have a runner this year, and Dundeel (NZ) whose two winners are Militarize and Castelvecchio.

This year, he is represented by trainer Sara Ryan’s Is It Spectacular. The 2-year-old colt has a huge task ahead of him, coming into the race with only two starts under his belt, and having won his maiden last start over 1300 metres in Sydney a fortnight ago.

“He’s a typical Dundeel, slightly later maturing, but he’s doing everything right so there’s no reason not to have a go,” Ryan said.

“The plan is the JJ Atkins as his main goal, but he’s drawn soft enough and he’s begging for further ground. The race is a good stepping stone (for the JJ Atkins).”

Dundeel, a recent inductee to the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, is the sire of eight Group 1 winners, and wasn’t seen until April of his 2-year-old season, where he won on debut, then came back at three to make it five in succession, concluding with the G1 Spring Champion Stakes. All up, he won six Group 1 races, and his two Champagne Stakes winners have trained on like he did.

Is It Spectacular was purchased by Viribright Racing from Bhima Thoroughbreds' Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft for $260,000, and he’s the third foal of Is What It Is (Stratum), who is a full sister to Group 1 winner Stratum Star and a half-sister to Group 3 winner and G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes-placed, and young sire, Prague. Is What It Is’ first foal, 4-year-old gelding Medical Autocrat, is a full brother to Is It Spectacular and is a winner, while her second foal is 3-year-old gelding Bombus (Pierro), who races in Hong Kong. She has a yearling and a foal by Capitalist.

Can Lady Pankhurst give Capitalist his second?

Capitalist gained his first Group 1 winner as a sire in the Champagne when Captivant won in 2021 for trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, when ridden by James McDonald. In this year’s edition, John Sargent trains Lady Pankhurst (Capitalist) for Go Bloodstock and the 2-year-old filly is a good chance to give Capitalist his second winner of the race.

A maiden who has placed twice in three starts, Lady Pankhurst comes into the Champagne having run third in the Listed Fernhill Stakes behind Spicy Lu and Tupakara, who are both joining her in the Champagne.

“She’s done very well since running third last week, and she’s going to back up into this as a fit and well horse,” said Sargent.

When asked about her pedigree and type, Sargent thought she had plenty of scope; “She’s more of a staying type of Capitalist and her dam Thunder Lady, who I also trained, won the Wakeful and was unlucky in the Oaks, so I know she’ll stay. A hard-run mile should suit her, and last week’s run should top her off.”

Thunder Lady (NZ) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) only won once but it was a good one, being the G2 Wakeful Stakes, and she ran second in the G1 Victoria Oaks at her next start. Lady Pankhurst is her fourth foal, and she’s left two winners, Venetian Blue (Merchant Navy) and Relentless Ruby (Lonhro).

Lady Pankhurst was sold by Segenhoe Stud at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $75,000 to G & G Bloodstock, and Segenhoe Stud sold her half-sister by Russian Revolution at this year’s sale for $170,000 to B&M Griffiths and Northwood Park.

Do Champagne winners train on?

In 15 of the last 30 years, we’ve seen one horse win at least two of the first four juvenile Group 1 races on the calendar, so a year like this one with a fourth individual Group 1 winner is a little peculiar. Of those 15 repeat winners, 11 have won the Sires’ and Champagne double.

If we look at the last five winners who earned their first Group 1 win in the G1 Champagne Stakes, do they train on? In simple terms, yes. Three of the five won at least one more Group 1 race, and the other two were both Group 1 placed at three.

Broadsiding is perhaps the best example; the Champagne was his fifth career start, and he kept on winning, heading to Brisbane where he won the G2 BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes and G1 JJ Atkins Plate. Returning this season at three, he has collected the G1 Golden Rose Stakes when resuming, ran third in the G1 Cox Plate, and this autumn, he’s added the G2 Hobartville Stakes and G1 Rosehill Guineas to make it four Group 1 victories among his seven wins from 14 starts.

In 2022, the race was won by She’s Extreme, who had won the G3 Magic Night Stakes and placed in the Sires’ Produce Stakes the start before. She added the G1 Victoria Oaks at three.

A winner on debut as a pre-Christmas juvenile and placed in the Sires’ Produce Stakes before his Champagne win, Captivant was unfortunate enough to run into the Champion racehorse Anamoe when second in the G1 Caulfield Guineas at three, and is now at stud.

Castelvecchio, whose 3-year-olds are showing plenty this season, won his first two races at two including the R. Listed Inglis Millenium. He didn’t run in the Golden Slipper, but placed in the Sires’ Produce before his Champagne win. At three, he returned to place in the Spring Champion Stakes and Cox Plate, before winning the Rosehill Guineas.

The filly Seabrook won the 2018 Champagne Stakes, and didn’t win again, but did place in Group company on seven further occasions, including in the G1 MRC Thousand Guineas. She went to stud in Japan where her first foal, Sky Tower (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), has just turned three.

Of the two recent winners of the Sires and Champagne double, both also trained on at three. The 2023 winner Militarize added the Golden Rose to his record, retired to stud, was infertile, and is now gelded and back in work. King’s Legacy also achieved the Sires’ and Champagne double, placing in the Golden Rose at three.

Whatever happens on Saturday, this year's Champagne Stakes will crown a brand new Group 1 winner - and one pedigree and one sire will get a big boost as we inch closer to the 2025 breeding season.