Siena Grima fulfils Epsom dream on God’s Window at her first Group 1 ride
Siena Grima and God’s Window delivered Chris Waller his seventh Epsom Handicap, with an upset win in the famous Randwick mile.
Apprentice Siena Grima has won the $1.5 million Epsom Handicap at her first Group 1 attempt, steering Chris Waller-trained God’s Window to victory at Royal Randwick.
The gelding charged down the outside to beat Ceolwulf by 1¾ lengths, with Tom Kitten a further length away in third.
Grima, who won the Sydney apprentice premiership with 34 winners last season, had already partnered God’s Window to victory at Randwick in May, when she rode her first metropolitan treble, all for Waller.
“I galloped him Thursday, and he just gave me the most incredible feel. I had a lovely cart out wide to the better part of the track, and he just filled me with confidence the entire way and when I went past them all I thought, I’m going to win my first Group One! And I did,” Grima said.
Grima settled back with fellow apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald on Encap.
“He can get on the chewy and when he didn’t begin the best, I didn’t want to upset him and rev him up, so I just jumped, let him slide across,” she said.
“I followed Plymouth out. He gave me a beautiful cart out, and when I got into him he just kept finding.”
Waller praised Grima’s approach to her work.
“When she came to us, she wanted to learn. Tough is not the right word but she’s an amazing horse person. She is there every morning and is the same person every day. She is one of those real professional athletes we read about and dream about being,” Waller said.
Darren Beadman was in Melbourne with the stable’s team, Waller said.
“He was the first person on the phone, he was in tears as he has put so much work into Siena. It is a fairytale win.”
The victory was Waller’s seventh Epsom, following Boban, He’s Your Man, Winx, Kolding, Rediener and last year’s winner Autumn Glow.
God’s Window, a son of Dubawi out of the Nathaniel mare Perfect Clarity, had been Group 1-placed in Britain’s Futurity Trophy at Doncaster in 2023.
Waller traced the Epsom preparation to the gelding’s winter form.
“His first-up run was terrific and we picked this race out after he went for his winter spell,” he said.
“We felt we would give him the one run into the Epsom and it worked.”
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