Beiwacht blitz in Memsie
Beiwacht confirmed his reputation as one of the best 1400-metre horses in Australia with a thoroughly dominant first-up Memsie Stakes win at Caulfield.
Chris Waller and Godolphin are still pondering international goals for brilliant four-year-old Beiwacht after his three-length romp in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield.
The Godolphin-bred and owned entire maintained his reputation as one of the best 1400-metre horses in Australia, with an all-the-way win under Nash Rawiller, surging clear of veteran Mr Brightside and recent PB Lawrence Stakes winner Cosmic Crusader.
The victory was the third Group 1 of his career, all over his pet distance after victories in both the Golden Rose and the All-Aged Stakes during his three-year-old campaign.
Rawiller had ridden the son of Bivouac to a similar win in the All Aged Stakes and first-up, seized the initiative, surged clear around the bend and never looked like getting beaten.
“He’s done a great job. He beat the older horses in the All-Aged and it was a great ride by Nash today and to see him come back, it was a terrific win,” Waller said.
“(Rawiller’s engagement) came about in the autumn when he won the All-Aged Stakes when his normal rider wasn’t available. He loves Caulfield, Nash, and he’s a patriotic Victorian and he doesn’t say much. It was the perfect booking, as simple as that.”
Waller was forced to withdraw Beiwacht from the Winx Stakes last week, won so impressively by stablemate Autumn Glow, because of a temperature spike, but said there was never any concern about his campaign.
“We didn’t panic. It came up enough to say he didn’t need to leave the stable and remarkably his blood on Monday was perfect,’ he said.
“We galloped him at Rosehill on Tuesday. He was fine on Wednesday and everything has been good since, so whatever it was, it didn’t last long.
The only restriction on where the four-year-old heads next is that it will be around a bend, but that won’t stop Waller and Godolphin looking for overseas options for him.
“We said last year we were keen to take him internationally, but he’s not a real straight horse. He was out of his comfort zone in the Lightning and it dented our confidence a little bit,” he said,
“He’s a specialist 1400-metre type horse, so there are some international thoughts there.”
“We’ll find something. I’ll talk to the Godolphin team and I’m sure there will be some good races in store for him.”
Rawiller said he felt Beiwacht had improved even more into his four-year-old season.
“He’s always been a lovely colt and, you know, an entire as a four-year-old, but he just went to a new level today. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“He’s always had a good attitude, he’s always just had that raw, high cruising speed, he’s just matured and God, that was a special feeling the whole way up the straight. He just had them cold. It was exciting.”
In what was a marquee day for Godolphin, the breeding and racing operation had a quinella in the Group 3 Courtza Stakes when the Ciaron Maher-trained mare Custom defeated the Lindsay Park-trained Photograph.
In Sydney, Golden Slipper winner Guest House returned as a winenr in the Group 3 San Domenico Stakes at Rosehill.
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