Five things we learned – Australian Cup and Tancred Stakes day
A brilliant day of Group 1 racing across Australia and New Zealand was highlighted by tight finishes, a couple of champion mares, some cock-a-hoop Kiwis and another demonstration of Zac Lloyd’s ascension to the company of Australia’s best jockeys.
It’s a game of very small margins
A total of just 0.33 lengths separated the first two across the line in the three Group 1 races in Australia on Saturday. If there has been a more competitive day of elite racing in this country in the recent past, we’d like to know when it was, because the judge was just about the busiest person on course, whether it be Rosehill or Flemington.
Officially just 0.01 lengths separated Belle Cheval and After Summer in the Vinery Stud Stakes, and that result wasn’t settled until the stewards decided that the former’s wandering path down the Rosehill straight did not prevent the second horse from winning the race.
We then had a pixel margin in the Australian Cup (more on that race later) as Light Infantry Man edged out Pride Of Jenni for his second consecutive win in the race.
The margin was slightly more decisive in the Tancred Stakes, 0.3 lengths according to Racing Australia, but it was arguably the best race of all three. The epic duel between the eventual winner Aeliana and the heroic, but slightly erratic Dubai Honour, was decided in the final 10 metres as Chris Waller’s mare got the upper hand.
Rich pickings
There is an old punting wives’ tale about backing the runners of the first trainer you see at the racetrack. Well, Rich Hill’s John Thompson isn’t exactly a trainer, but a couple of correspondents from The Straight who attended Rosehill for the first time on Saturday, would have done well to follow up on their first meeting.
Thompson is always up for a chat and asked about the prospects of the various horses he had in across Australasia, he was cautiously optimistic.
About 15 minutes after that conversation, Satono Glow, a two-year-old son of Rich Hill’s resident stallion Satono Aladdin, won the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Flemington.
But that was just the start of an epic day for Thompson. She’s A Dealer, who Thompson bred and co-owns, and who is by another resident sire, Ace High, claimed the Group 1 NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Trentham.
But the best was yet to come, with Aeliana’s heroic win in the Tancred. Rich Hill bred the star mare and sold her as a yearling. Thompson was ecstatic and shouted a group of his fellow Kiwis, (plus a couple of journos who clearly hadn’t taken the tip) a drink.
Pride and joy
The biggest roar of the day in the downstairs members area at Rosehill – to that point of the day at least – was heard at the conclusion of a race held 868km away.
Group 1 races, regardless of where they are, still stop people in their tracks on Australian racecourses and when Pride Of Jenni lifted off the canvas inside the 200 metres of the Australian Cup, the atmosphere at Rosehill became briefly electrified. You could imagine it would have been the same at pubs and clubs around Australia
The ripple of noise continued for several minutes, with questions of whether Pride Of Jenni had held on. The photo went against her, but the popular vote would have leaned firmly in her favour, The Australian public regards Jenni as a champion, as they should.
During the Cup, an “experienced” syndicator sat transfixed in front of a monitor, watching the race – in which he did not have an ownership interest in – with the enthusiasm of a six-year-old child.
It’s a reminder how for the true racing fan, state borders and rivalries mean nothing. Good racing is good racing, whether you are at Rosehill or Flemington.
That Rosehill roar was surpassed when Aeliana reeled in Dubai Honour, with all on track very much in love with the racing game in the aftermath.
It’s a game of very small margins – version two
Without wanting the labour the point, what a difference a few centimetres makes. The same syndicator mentioned in the previous section mused that the progeny of the same sire had lost out in both the tight finishes of the Australian Cup and the Tancred Stakes.
“The results go the other way and everyone is hailing Pride Of Dubai as one of the best sires in Australia,” he said.
The difference in those two results, in terms of prize money, was around $1.4 million. Pride Of Dubai currently sits 37th on the Australian Sires Table. Had the close results gone the other way, then he would be 28th.
I’ll leave others to explore why Pride Of Dubai is not a more highly rated commercial sire in Australia, but it is worth noting he doesn’t have a single representative in the Easter Yearling Sale which kicks off on Sunday.
Zac attack – Four of the best
Plenty was written about Zac Lloyd after his ride on Guest House in the Golden Slipper, but he backed up that form with a four-timer at Rosehill on Saturday, including his fifth Group 1 success aboard Belle Cheval in the Vinery Stud Stakes.
Sharing a jockeys’ room with an all-time great like James McDonald might see Lloyd suffer in comparison, but at just 22 years old, he is developing himself into one of the very best hoops in Australia.
He is also becoming of the punters’ best friends, with three of his four winners on Saturday, well-backed favourites.
Another string to his bow is his ability to win for different stables, with all four on Saturday for different trainers – Kristen Buchanan, Matthew Smith, Mark Walker and Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr. He has also ridden winners for John O’Shea and Tom Charlton, Joseph Ible, Ciaron Maher, Bryce Heys and Lee and Cherie Curtis in the past three weeks.
Author
Related Articles
RA says software glitch to blame for SNS issue, rules out cybersecurity breach
A software problem, rather than any form of cybersecurity breach, led to recent issues with the Single National System, the key technological tool which is central to the running of Australian racing, according to Racing Australia.
ATC fee hike adds to mounting cost pressures on Sydney trainers
The Australian Turf Club will raise stable rents and track fees at its Sydney racecourses, adding a financial squeeze on trainers preparing to deal with a steep jump in labour costs.
‘Like jumping out of a plane wondering if your parachute’s going to open’ – Family first as Tyreel calls time
After producing a string of Group 1 winners from Tyreel Stud, Linda and Laurence Monds are scaling down their operation to spend more time with family, bringing to a close a highly successful 12-year chapter in thoroughbred breeding.
