Bella Nipotina underlined her class with a second Queensland Carnival win, accounting for her own sex to win the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm, the final elite-level race of the season.
Ridden patiently by Ryan Maloney, who replaced Craig Williams, the six-year-old charged past imported mare Bubble Rock before holding stablemate Semana through the line.
Bella Nipotina is now a three-time Group 1 winner, with her Tiara title sitting alongside a Doomben 10,000 and a Manikato Stakes as her crowning accomplishments across a 52-start career.
She is the most successful progeny of Coolmore’s Pride Of Dubai, who has 23 individual black-type winners, four of whom have won a Group 1.
Top Queensland trainer Tony Gollan may have had to settle for third when preparing Bubble Rock, but he collected further success with his talented sprinter Zarastro, who raced away from his rivals under Angela Jones to win the Group 3 W. J. Healy Stakes.
Zarastro wins the last at Eagle Farm topping off a great day for both Angela Jones and @tonygollan 🙏 pic.twitter.com/TlnEU4e6ly
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 29, 2024
Jones kept the five-year-old right on the speed in the run, with the gelding responding to dash clear of Ghaanati and claim his third black-type win.
Zarastro is by Champion Sire I Am Invincible, who has eclipsed $30 million in prize money this season.
In a stirring finish to the Listed Tattersall’s Gold Crown at Eagle Farm, Princess Rhaenys was able to repel Deny Knowledge at the conclusion of a duel that lasted the entirety of the 400-metre straight.
Princess Rhaenys latched onto an elusive black-type win at start number 26, having to hold on in the final strides against the dogged Deny Knowledge, who rallied back after relinquishing the lead to make it a close finish at the post.
Princess Rhaenys is the 99th career stakes winner for Iffraaj, who still stands for Darley at Newmarket in the United Kingdom.
Weeks away from turning nine, Vow And Declare showed he still has the zest for racing, finishing strongly at the end of 2400 metres to win the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup at Eagle Farm.
The old boy's still got it!
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 29, 2024
Vow and Declare wins the Tatersall's Cup 5 years apart💪 pic.twitter.com/Z4xMhlJj5E
Settling off the fence under Billy Egan, Vow And Declare took a split in the concluding stages of the race, slicing through to defeat stablemate Young Werther.
Now a winner of four black-type races, including the 2019 Group 1 Melbourne Cup, Vow And Declare is one of 50 stakes winners for Declaration Of War.
Promising Deep Field colt Depth Of Character justified warm favourtism in the Listed Tattersall’s Stakes at Eagle Farm, recording an impressive win in his third career start under jockey Tom Sherry.
Trained by Annabel Neasham, the two-year-old extended strongly when asked by Sherry, going past Steel Strike, who had led the field into the final turn.
Depth Of Character is the 33rd individual stakes winner for Deep Field, who was pensioned by Newgate in 2022.
The sole black-type race in New South Wales on Saturday, the Listed W. J. McKell Cup, was stamped with a dominant performance by Golden Path, who raced away with his first stakes win under jockey Chad Schofield.
Positioned just behind the leading trio for the majority of the race, Schofield presented the gelding with 400 metres to go, quickly putting pay to those in front of him and giving nothing else a chance to issue a challenge.
Golden Path is stakes winner number 12 for the Irish-bred Belardo, who has sired Group-winners in both hemispheres.
Cottee outmuscled Iknowastar in the concluding stages of the Listed Tattersall’s Mile at Eagle Farm, finishing over the top to claim her first black-type success.
Ridden patiently by Jones, the Toowoomba-based mare rattled home late to take the prize in the final strides of the race.
She is the third stakes winner for Merchant Navy, joining Royal Merchant and Steel City, from his first three crops.
Dundeel notched his 30th career stakes winner at Morphettville, with his daughter Femminile rocketing home under Kayla Crowther to snatch the Listed Oaklands Plate from the grasp of Colmar.
Trainer Phillip Stokes crossed the border from Victoria to run the filly, who was having her second career start after a sixth-placed finish at Sandown earlier this month.
Femminile is the second stakes-winning juvenile for Dundeel this season, joining Epimeles, who won the Listed Anzac Day Stakes at Flemington in April.
