Childs’ inside run lands Tatt’s Tiara for Splash Back
A daring inside ride from Jordan Childs propelled Splash Back to Group 1 glory in the Tatt’s Tiara, capping a remarkable rise for the French-bred mare and adding another elite-level success to Grahame Begg’s record.
French-bred Splash Back captured a 16th Group 1 win for trainer Grahame Begg on Saturday, stealing the Tatt’s Tiara, the final G1 of the season, with a confident rails run.
Jockey Jordan Childs kept the six-year-old mare to the inside when the rest of the field fanned in the straight, a tactic that paid off with Splash Back landing a 1.26l victory over placegetters Savagery Vibe and Gerringong.
“She’s always a horse that gets back in her races and needs a lot of luck,” the jockey said.
“Coming to the corner I needed it to unfold and a few runs to appear, and when it did she really burst through.”
The victory was the third time Begg has won this race after Bonanova in 1999 and 2000. At that point the race was named the G2 Winter Stakes.
“She’s been a beauty, this horse, since we got her,” Begg said.
“She’s all heart. She just goes out and goes to war for you.”
Splash Back arrived at Begg’s Cranbourne yard two years ago after starting her career with Andrew Bobbin.
She has climbed through her grades consistently, beginning with a win in the G2 WH Stocks Stakes last year and continuing on May 2 when she opened her winter carnival account with victory in the G2 Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm.
Between that race and Saturday she was unplaced in the G1 Kingsford-Smith Cup and G1 Stradbroke Handicap, which Childs put down to the going.
“Her last two starts, the track’s been on the real Soft and nearly Heavy stage, and it probably just takes away a bit of her turn of foot, whereas today it’s been a drying surface.”
The Tatt’s Tiara brought Splash Back’s career record to nine wins from 23 starts and close to $1.2 million in prize money.
It also proved another top-tier victory for the Sandy McGregor colours, made famous in the 2015 Melbourne Cup by Prince Of Penzance.
Splash Back became the first Australian G1 winner for her sire, the late Le Havre, bettering the stallion’s previous Australian Group winners Eliyass and Auvray.
She was foaled in France in May 2020 and, at Arqana’s Deauville Yearling Sale in 2021, she was bought by Arthur Hoyeau on behalf of Australian agent John Foote for €100,000 (about $160,000).
Foote was also the man who spotted Prince Of Penzance for McGregor.
Splash Back is a half-sister to the stakes winners Into the Mystic (Galileo) and Chachnak (Kingman), and her dam, the Danehill Dancer mare Tamazirte, was a G2 winner who was second in the G1 Prix de Diane.
Splash Back was one of two bought by Foote in the catalogue that day, the other being the German-bred A Blue Star (Mastercraftsman), who is with Paul Graesser at Warrnambool.
Earlier on the Eagle Farm card, Asterix gave Chris Waller and Tim Clark the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup over 2400 metres, beating Pounding and Etna Rosso. Waller also struck in the Listed Tattersall’s Mile, where Sun God, ridden by Nash Rawiller, defeated War Eternal and Keitel.
The Group 3 Eureka Stud W.J. Healy Stakes went to Yellow Brick, trained by Tony and Maddysen Sears and ridden by Tommy Berry. Payline and Pereille filled the placings in the 1200-metre sprint.
The two-year-olds produced a tight Listed Tattersall’s Stakes, with The Machine Gun scoring narrowly for Peter Snowden and Tim Clark from Klocke and Hard To Exceed. In the Listed Tattersall’s Gold Crown, Zuleika led throughout for Todd Pollard and Ashley Morgan, beating Sun Worshipper and Hyperbolic over 2100 metres.
Away from Brisbane, Glory Daze caused an upset in Rosehill’s Listed W J McKell Cup, giving Adam Farragher his first stakes win aboard the Ciaron Maher-trained import.
At Morphettville, two-year-old Pretty Baby became a stakes winner in the Listed Sportsbet David Peacock Oaklands Plate, while in New Zealand, Churchillian led all the way to claim the Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic at Tauranga.
Zoustar led the winners’ table with four individual winners across Australia, while black-type victories were recorded by the progeny of Le Havre, Tavistock, The Mission, Stay Inside, North Pacific, Churchill and Cotai Glory.
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