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    • By Kit Gow/TTRAusNZ Last year James McDonald stood in the irons approaching the line in the G1 Cox Plate as his mount Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) surged to an astonishing eighth-length victory. This year, the Moonee Valley crowd had their hearts in their mouths as the returning champion rounded the corner out wide, fighting to get past Nepotism (Brutal) and Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) to defend her crown. But it wouldn't be a fitting swansong for the Valley before its reconstruction without that height of drama. For fleeting seconds as the pack straightened, it appeared that fellow Yulong-owned Treasurethe Moment might hang on to her lead before Yulong's mightier mare clawed her way to the front – only to be challenged by stablemate Buckaroo (Fastnet Rock). The pair duelled over the Plate's closing furlong and McDonald was afforded no early moment of celebration until Via Sistina thrust her head in front as they crossed the line. It was a fourth-straight win in the race for McDonald, who steered Anamoe and Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) to victory in the years preceding his partnership with Via Sistina, and a sixth win in the race for trainer Chris Waller. The first four wins, of course, came courtesy of Winx (Street Cry). “I'm blessed to ride champion racehorses, blessed to be a part of a champion stable, and she was trained to the minute,” said McDonald. “It was a sensational feeling. It was funny because she began well and I thought, 'This is beautiful.' “I thought I was in a great spot. Zac Lloyd [on Neopitism] was jostling for a position. We came back, she raced a little bit keen for a bit, but her incredible will to win shone through there and she's a champion racehorse. “I'm so proud of her. She deserved to be in the same breath as Sunline and those sorts of horses with two Cox Plates. You know what? I'm just rapt that it was a proper-run Cox Plate. That's what Cox Plates are all about. The best horse shone through and she deserves all she gets.” When asked about the pressure he felt returning to defeat Via Sistina's crown, McDonald could only draw a comparison to what Hugh Bowman must have felt returning year after year with Winx, saying, “How did Hugh do it?” Waller is, of course, no stranger to pressure, and while he must have felt it, he expressed he had always had such great confidence in his current champion. He said, “I know she hasn't won her last two runs, but all the data suggests she's flying and, once they set those benchmarks, providing the horse is healthy and well, you know they're going to get somewhere close to it. Let the horses do the talking. She had a lovely run. Attrition, I thought, was the winner at the 200 (metre mark). She had to dig deep. I know she can and she did.” Pedigree Notes Yulong have spent a collective A$6.93 million to acquire Via Sistina, her dam Nigh (Galileo), and her half-sister Via Sienna (Bated Breath), which pales in comparison to Via Sistina's earnings of over A$17 million to date. She is the standout child of the unraced Nigh, who is a half-sister to the multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Kingsgate Native (Mujadil). Nigh produced a colt by Too Darn Hot in 2024 as her most recent documented foal. The post Via Sistina Digs Deep in Cox Plate Defence appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Unbelievably, there was a more expensive yearling purchase than My Ophelia (Wootton Bassett) in Saturday's mile novice at Newbury but it was Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy's 1.7million gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase who emerged as the TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard. While the William Haggas-trained half-sister to the top-flight performers My Prospero (Iffraaj), My Oberon (Dubawi) and My Astra (Lope De Vega) played second fiddle to Alpinista's sister Alpinara (Frankel {GB}) at that auction, she was the one making headlines on the track as she rewarded even-money favouritism in style. At the line, the blueblood bred by Sunderland Holdings had two lengths to spare over stablemate Earth Shot (Time Test) to give her late sire a 17th Rising Star in a list that includes the likes of Camille Pissarro. Alpinara faded to be seventh. “She looks a nice horse and is bred to be nice,” Maureen Haggas said. “We've had quite a lot of the family and been lucky with them and she looks like she can go a bit.” “He couldn't pull her up and she is still pretty raw,” she added. “You'd probably start at a mile next year and see.” . The post Bloom And McAleavy’s Millionaire My Ophelia A New TDN Rising Star appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Sam Agars GENTLEMEN LEGACY - R7 (2) Was good over 1,800m first up and 2,000m looks ideal   Jay Rooney GENTLEMEN LEGACY - R7 (2) Returns to his winning trip after a close second   Owen Goulding DAZZLING FIT - R10 (7) Progressive last season and can resume that progress ahead of a big campaign   Phillip Woo GENTLEMEN LEGACY - R7 (2) Resumed with a nice second and can go one better   Shannon (Vincent Wong) SUNNY Q - R3 (13) Impressive last-start winner can score over the C&D once again   Racing...View the full article
    • Aidan O'Brien had a stranglehold on Saturday's G1 William Hill Futurity Trophy and was able to wrap up the British trainer's title with a one-two-three in the Doncaster feature led home by Hawk Mountain (Wootton Bassett). Sent off the outsider of the trio at 18-5 under Ronan Whelan, the Beresford winner scrapped it out with Action (Frankel) as the 7-4 favourite Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) floundered in the deep ground. At the line, he had half a length to spare over Lambourn's half-brother, with Benvenuto Cellini 2 3/4 lengths away. “He's a lovely big horse who stays and has pace and a great mind, so he's very exciting,” the trainer said of the son of Galileo's high-class Hydrangea, who was bringing up a dozen renewals for the stable and a 23rd Group 1 win this year. “We thought Action would be a middle-distance horse next year and he didn't surrender, whereas the winner could get away with being a miler before going up to middle distances.” “He is big, but athletic and so chilled, he's hardly even blowing which is unusual,” O'Brien added of the winner. “He's 100 per-cent homebred and there have been so many people involved with him all along–it's a big team. Christophe said Benvenuto Cellini didn't go in the ground, but he kept coming to the line. He's a good mover who handles fast ground well. They are three lovely horses.” Hydrangea, who is also responsible for Dubawi's Listed Hurry Harriet Stakes winner and British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes runner-up Wingspan and Listed Tetrarch Stakes winner Officer, is a full-sister to the Group 1-winning The United States and Hermosa and to Salsa whose daughter of Wootton Bassett, Whirl, is one of the best in the yard having won this year's Nassau and Pretty Polly. Hermosa is also the dam of this year's G3 Hampton Court Stakes winner and Grand Prix de Paris runner-up Trinity College also by Dubawi, while this is the stellar dynasty of Last Tycoon. Hydrangea's yearling is a full-brother to Hawk Mountain, while she also has a colt foal by Justify. The post Hawk Mountain Leads Ballydoyle 1-2-3 In The Futurity appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Riley Mott, 33, will saddle his first Breeders' Cup starter at this year's World Championships. He will be represented by a solid contender in grade 1 winner Argos, a 2-year-old son of Nyquist, in the Oct. 31 Juvenile Turf (G1T) at Del Mar.View the full article
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