THE PETLEY REPORT: LOOKING BACK ON ALL OF THE ACTION FROM AN AMAZING DAY OF HIGH CLASS RACING

By Jack Petley | Sunday, October 4, 2020

What an amazing day of racing on Saturday.

Chris Waller may not have reached the levels on the day as he did last year but there was an abundance of cash jumping into the Waller piggy bank.

And what about the day for Kiwi trainer Jamie Richards, head trainer for Te Akau at Matamata. A trans-Tasman Gr1 double with that crushing win by Probabeel in the Gr1 Epsom, giving Kerrin McEvoy his first win in the event, and the 1-2 finish in the Gr1 Windsor Park with Melody Belle claiming her 11th Gr1 by edging out Avantage by a mere whisker. It was her 16th career win from 33 starts and took her earnings to just over $3.67m. Melody Belle has now installed as favourite for the Livamol Classic at $2.40 ahead of Avantage, at $3.20, and then Two Illicit at $6.50.

Richards said that Probabeel has an entry for the Cox Plate and he also has the $7.5 million Golden Eagle on the agenda. "I will have to have a good talk to the owners," he said from Hastings. “I will give her a day or two off and also discuss what lies ahead with Kerrin." Glen Boss on Funstar said he thought he had the Epsom in the bag, but Probabeel was " too good" and the Kiwi mare is now 4-3 up on Funstar.

And what a day too for Indian born Sydneysider Manoj Wanzare when a filly he purchased a half share from the Wigley family, Matchmaker, was successful in the Canterbury Belle Stakes at Riccarton and then later in the day he watched that outstanding daughter of Zed, Verry Elleegant just beat her stablemates Toffee Tongue, the Oaks winner in SA last season, and Finche, who is really warming up for the Cups. It was a tough win by the mare ably handled for the first time by Mark Zahra and she has gained even further admirers for the majors ahead of her in Melbourne.

Matchmaker, by Makfi, now heads towards the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton and then she will eventually head to the Waller yard in Sydney. She has now moved to second favourite for the Guineas at $8 behind the Gold Trail Stakes winner, Miss Aotearoa at $5.50.

In a sense it was certainly a mixed bag for Chris Waller. Earlier in the day at Randwick and Flemington he produced three winners, the colt Shaquero in the Arrowfield Breeders Stakes, the NZ bred Kolding in the Hill Stakes Stakes and a very, very impressive September Run in the hands of Craig Williams in the Poseidon Stakes at Flemington. The daughter of Exceed and Excel gave her rivals a galloping lesson and she has now won four from seven and looks ready for higher honours.

Shaquero had won a Gold Coast trial before being sent into Sydney and he scored decisively. That win by Shaquero for McDonald and Waller gave the Rosehill trainer his third Breeders Plate in four years and the colt looks ever so above the average. Kolding also gained a strong win with the son of Waikato Stud sire Ocean Park having now won 10 from 24. and now, said Chris Waller, the NZ bred will be aimed at the WS Cox Plate.

But then the stable did not have as much luck, apart, of course, from that trifecta in the Turnbull. The Frankel filly Hungry Heart looked as though she had the Flight Stakes in the bag until Hugh Bowman produced Montefillia for trainer David Payne to run down the filly and deprive James McDonald of winning the first four races on the card, and the well backed Dame Giselle, faded badly in the run home run.

Then the next race certainly had Waller and McDonald shaking their heads as the favourite Nature Strip, and favourite in the morning for the $15 million Everest, ran so, so below his best, drifting away from the lead after the home bend in the Premiere and within minutes of his defeat had his odds blown out for the Everest. The winner, the crack Anthony Cummings trained Libertini was right back to her best with that win over Classique Legend and there must be some high pressure talks going on between owners Gerry Harvey and John Singleton with the last two slot holders, Chris Waller racing and James Harron, for The Everest,. Knowing those owners there will be some hard-headed negotiations.

In the next Waller had to watch his mare Funstar go down to a crushing win by the Cambridge Stud owned mare Probabeel, who had the race in the bag when McEvoy took her to challenge. Funstar, her arch rival last year in the Princess series, ran gamely for her second for the Rosehill stable and Auckland owned by now Bott-Waterhouse trained, Riodini, held a game placing for third.

Mugatoo looked to have the Metropolitan Handicap in safe hands for Kris Lees until the Busuttin-Young UK bred stayer Mirage Dancer came with a brilliant finish for Nash Rawiller. The Kiwis gained a two State double having won around earlier at Flemington with Sierra Sue in the Rose of Kingston Stakes with Michael Walker producing a brilliant rail hugging ride to gain victory over She Shao Fly and Missile Mantra and that took her record to 5 wins from 7 starts.

Mirage Dancer, by champion sire and racehorse Franker, now sits at 14th the order of entry for the Melbourne Cup with Oceanex at the top ahead of Anthony Van Dyke, Vow and Declare, Avilius and then Verry Elleegant. Russian Camelot is at 7 and Fiche who was so game in the Turnbull for Michael Walker, sits at 21.

Now Mirage Dancer will try for the Metropolitan-Caulfield Cup double which in recent years has been achieved by Tawqeet and Railings. Said Rawiller of the win: "He is a genuine Melbourne Cup horse."

While there were some outstanding performance sat the two tracks in Oz one had to take note of that brilliant debut win by the filly Enthaar in the Gimcrack for the Maher-Eustace yard in the hands of James McDonald. The filly turned in a brilliant time to win with ease and it was interesting that there was talk before the race that she had been installed at $17 for the Golden Slipper and she dramatically after the brilliant win. Said McDonald, who has ridden many a top young galloper: "She is very, very exciting."

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