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All Aged Stakes and Champagne Stakes: Group 1 preview and tips

Jockey Craig Williams rides Criterion to win Race 9, The Queen Elizabeth Stakes. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Expert
14th April, 2016
11

The last day of the Sydney Group 1 autumn carnival is upon us, and what racing we’ve been subject to over the last few weeks.

The Championships can rightly argue that the best racing in Australia happens on their watch, and the cross-section of races over the two weeks at Randwick gives us great variety.

It makes sense to expand The Championships by at least a week though, to incorporate Rosehill, and the Golden Slipper and BMW if possible. Something for us all to mull over.

The All Aged Stakes is the feature Group 1 on the card this week, and looking at the 16 winners this century, it’s a star-studded line-up, kicked off by Sunline, and incorporating the likes of Private Steer, Racing to Win, Hot Danish, Hay List, Atlantic Jewel, All Too Hard and Dissident.

This year’s edition has seen a small but select field of eight assembled, with five horses currently rated at $7 or under.

Press Statement is the market-elect, understandably given the record of three-year-olds in autumn weight-for-age events. He’s only in his third campaign, and has banked a Group 1 win in each of his first two, the JJ Atkins as a two-year-old in Brisbane and the Caulfield Guineas in the spring.

He dominated the Hobartville first-up, and should have won the Randwick Guineas but for bad luck second-up. He chased home Winx and Kermadec in the George Ryder, his first time at WFA, and will be hard to beat again.

Another three-year-old, English, is right in the market, and she’s in the unusual position of having all of her starts as a three-year-old in open company. She’s more than held her own this prep after missing the spring, winning the Challenge Stakes in dazzling style first-up, before running well in Group 1 company in the Galaxy and TJ Smith after drawing wide in both.

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The smaller field should suit her, but it’s unclear whether 1400m will. If it does, and she can reproduce that sprint, she’s be mighty hard to hold out, although the lack of obvious speed in the race may count against her get-back racing pattern.

Another filly, Perignon, is having a crack at this race after coming through the B-grade events, although her only two misses in the last year have been with excuses. She has form around some smart horses, and can give a good account of herself despite being the despised outsider of the field.

Kermadec is the proven horse in the race, and a couple of weeks ago Roar expert Justin Cinque and I were debating on Twitter where exactly he stands as a horse in the country. A great miler, or just a very good, but not great, horse?

Clearly he wasn’t right in the Doncaster, and can be forgiven there, given he was building into his prep nicely before that, being particularly eye-catching behind Winx in the George Ryder.

Kermadec did beat Press Statement home by a couple of lengths in that race, each horse running on their merits, and he does meet him half a kilo better off, yet is twice the odds? If you forgive his Doncaster failure, then he’s a very attractive price. In fact, it might just be a silly price for the only true WFA horse in the race, although I suspect 1400m suits Press Statement more.

Black Heart Bart has made an impressive start under Darren Weir, going within an inch of winning the Newmarket first-up, where he produced a mighty run, and then winning the Victoria Handicap at Caulfield over Easter, beating a very good 1400m specialist.

His 1400m record, mostly in Perth, is supreme, and it’s fair to say he’s gone to another level in his new yard. He has to be in the game.

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Malaguerra is the fresh horse on the scene, rising through the ranks from a benchmark 90 win on Melbourne Cup day to be undefeated since, and now starting around $5 in a Group 1 WFA race.

He appears to have the turn of foot required at WFA level, and he is one of a few x-factors in the race. No doubt the Freedman brothers are looking for him to give a good account of himself here, to keep the Stradbroke on the agenda.

Rebel Dane finds it hard to win these days, and is quite a particular horse. His best runs have usually been when on the fresh side, but his prep this time in hasn’t really allowed for it, and he’s not a horse that relishes dropping back in distance, as he’s had to across the campaign.

1400m is probably his best distance, and he ran respectable races in the Orr and Futurity down in Melbourne over the trip. Genuine Group 1 WFA racing finds him out, but the case can be made that this isn’t the standard of race he usually finds himself in – there is only one Group 1 WFA win between the entire field.

If Rebel Dane can unleash his best sprint, he is the one that can surprise at odds. He needs things to go exactly his way though, which they usually don’t. Blinkers are coming off him for the first time too.

Kris Lees has an Italian Derby winner resuming here, for his first run in the country. Honestly, I don’t know anything about him, or what to make of him. Please leave a comment below if you have some knowledge.

There is no obvious leader in the race, but a few horses (Malaguerra, Press Statement, Black Heart Bart) that have done the job well at least once on a previous occasion, so how the race unfolds early adds to the intrigue.

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Selections: 1.Black Heart Bart 2.Kermadec 3.Malaguerra 4.Press Statement

The Champagne Stakes is the support Group 1 on the Randwick card, the third leg of the two-year-old Triple Crown.

Yankee Rose took out the second leg, the Sires Produce, with absolute authority and arrogance, not just a class above, but probably two or three.

As I wrote in my preview for that race, she was following in the footsteps of Guelph, as a filly that had run a bottler first-up in the Slipper, but actually targeting the two Group 1s to follow it. Yankee Rose, if the hoof issues aren’t a hindrance, will also complete the double.

Only two others from the Sires Produce have been game enough to tackle Yankee Rose again, Faraway Town, third but beaten 4.5 lengths, and the poorly-mannered Chimborra, who was seven lengths in arrears of the winner.

Faraway Town was identified as the best roughie in the Sires, and ran a place at 50-1. She’s not quite at those odds again, but is still good place value.

Prized Icon has had five runs already this prep, and is now being asked to back-up his winning run over a mile last week to tackle 1600 metres again. He’s super honest and so game, so should handle it OK, and does get some weight relief.

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Obscura is third favourite, and there is no combo hotter than John O’Shea and James McDonald. This horse is screaming out for a mile. Is it too early to start backing him for the VRC Derby?

Of the others, we must respect the Kiwi form, represented here by El Sicario, and Robbie Laing reminded us all last week that he can pop up at odds with a two-year-old winner, so keep an eye on Jaws of Steel.

Crown Him has too many weights and measures against him, against Prized Icon, who is not even the testing material. Divine Prophet steps up from 1200m to the mile off a 24 day break, but Team Hawkes do things their way. Not for me, but he might be one to watch through Brisbane if he goes there.

Selections: 1.Yankee Rose 2.Prized Icon 3.Faraway Town 4.Obscura

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