THE PETLEY REPORT: THE BRITISH BULLDOG DOWNS VERRY ELLEEGANT UNDER A BRILLIANT MARQUAND RIDE

By Jack Petley | Sunday, April 18, 2021

The $4m Queen Elizabeth Stakes was promoted as the race of the carnival at Randwick … and the hype was "spot on." What a race with that British Bulldog Addeybb downing Verry Elleegant for the second time in the rich event. But what a finish. And what a brilliant ride by Tom Marquand on the William Haggas stayer.

As was expected the two great stayers came off the home bend ready to rumble … Addeybb in front and Verry Elleegant wider … with not a great deal between them. Inside the last 150m the Kiwi bred mare looked as though she may win, taking an ever so slender lead, but the raider dug in and he forged ahead to a brilliant win and his fourth success at Group 1 level and, remarkably, his first in front of fans.

Tom Marquand, who wore a black armband in honour of Prince Phillip, fought back tears as he pulled up. "Closest I have been to tears for many years," he said. "What an occasion."

Verry Elleegant was gallant, ever so gallant. And I see that minutes after the race Chris Waller phoned William Haggas and congratulated him on the win. “A true sportsman," Haggas told the media. "This is a tremendous day for racing, both northern and southern hemisphere and I'm proud to be part of it."

And guess what? The great English trainer admitted he hardly watched the race being too nervous. "An emotional moment," he said.

While the Waller yard missed out on the winner's cheque of $2,320,000 (second was a healthy $755,000), he still had a wonderful day taking out the $1m Australian Oaks with that superb Frankel filly Hungry Heart and the $2m Sydney Cup with the UK import, Selino, who gained a big win for now top Queensland rider, lightweight Ron Stewart. It may have been a while since he has ridden at Randwick, but years back he rode successfully in Sydney and he also has experience in Singapore to his credit.

Selino, 26-1, beat off a strong challenge from the two NZ bred mares, Rondinella and Miami Bound while Hungry Heart completed the Vinery-Oaks double for Waller and gave the NZ born champion trainer his 13th Gr1 winner of the season and the 124th of his amazing Sydney career while winning rider Kerrin McEvoy took his Gr1 tally to 69. Waller rates the Frankel filly highly and he said after the win that he holds her in high regard and next season she will have races like the Cox Plate on her agenda.

Second home in the Oaks was the Edward Cummings trained filly Duais, who finished hard late. Bargain finished third. The Kiwi filly Amarelinha ran a game fourth without ever looking likely to win, but she did cover extra ground which did not help.

Amarelinha’s trainer Jamie Richards went ever so close to a great day, with two of his stars Probabeel and Entriviere running second, both beaten by half heads. And that meant instead of the NZ trainer having his pair win $750,000,700 in stakes, they banked just $246,400 , but still not a bad days work.

Wendy Roche's Doncaster Handicap winner of last year Nettoyer, with Tom Berry up, ran down the Matamata mare Probabeel in the $1m Queen of the Turf Stakes in the last few strides after Probabeel had been in front just off the home bend.

Entriviere looked as though she would win for James McDonald 50m out in the $300,000 Sapphire Stakes but was run down narrowly by that powerful finish of Fasika for Joe Pride.

But while Jamie Richards may have missed out on a big win in Sydney he still had good fortune in his homeland with that bonny mare Avantage taking out the Gr1 Breeders Stakes at Te Rapa in the hands of Danielle Johnson, who has ridden the Te Akau mare 10 times for six wins, four of those at Gr1 level.

That win by Avantage gave Richards his 144th winner for the season, passing the previous best of 143 set by that powerful Cambridge yard of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. It was his 35th Stakes win in New Zealand for the season along with a further four in Australia. He has won 13 of the 21 Gr1 races on offer in NZ with Avantage accounting for five of that total. The mare has now won 16 of her 27 starts and $2.2 million in stakes after she cost David Ellis $210,000 out of The Oaks Stud draft back in 2017.

Back to Randwick, that was a brilliant win by Wild Ruler for Team Snowden and James McDonald and the good news, I see, is that he won’t go to stud this spring for Newgate Farm, but instead will be back in work next spring and of course the target logically the $15 Everest.

A big, big win for the Price stable Robert and son Luke, with that outstanding filly Jamaea in the $1m Percy Sykes Stakes. The $130,000 MM purchase has now won two from five for the stable and she looks a Classic filly for next season, that is for sure. Said Tommy Berry: "She has a great attitude."

James McDonald won the Nathan Berry Medal with 14 points ahead of 11 Kerrin McEvoy, 9 Tommy Berry 7, Tom Marquand, 5 High Bowman.

As I said before, a wonderful, wonderful day of racing.

The Aussie scene just keeps gaining strength year after year.