Perfumist back on top with Randwick blitz

[Wandering Eyes]

New Zealand-bred mare Perfumist (NZ) (El Roca) bounced back to her brilliant best with a dominant front-running performance in the A$160,000 Melbourne Storm Mile (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.

The daughter of El Roca burst onto the scene as a three-year-old last season with wins in five of her first nine starts, including four in a row in December and January. Those performances earned her a ticket across the Tasman for the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie in March, where she ran a close and creditable fifth.

Perfumist was below that level in the early stages of her four-year-old season, finishing sixth over 1200m at Rosehill on August 16 and 11^th over the same course and distance on August 30, but then she ran a more promising fourth over 1600m at Randwick on September 20. On Saturday the Bjorn Baker-trained mare showed the Randwick crowd what she is capable of.

Drawn handily in three among a competitive 18-horse field, Perfumist broke brilliantly from the starting gates and quickly took up the lead for jockey Regan Bayliss.

Bayliss began to up the ante coming down the side of the track and Perfumist pulled ahead by two and three lengths coming up to the home turn.

Perfumist kicked hard at the 300m mark and powered clear, putting four lengths between herself and her nearest challenger.

The favourite Idle Flyer (Dundeel) was able to eat into that advantage late in the piece, closing to within a length and a half with another five lengths back to third, but there would be no catching Perfumist. She set a new race record with her time of 1:33.01 for 1600m.

“She pulled out the ‘dictate and dominate’ playbook and bounced back to her best,” Baker said. “Congratulations to a great group of owners. We might look to the Angst Stakes (Gr.3, 1600m) from here.”

The Angst Stakes will be run on October 18 over the same course and distance as Perfumist’s win on Saturday.

Perfumist was bred by Westbury Stud owner Gerry Harvey and is by Westbury stallion El Roca. She is the first foal to race out of the unraced Swiss Ace mare Tapputi (NZ), whose full-brother Cut Me Loose (NZ) won two races and placed in the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m). Perfumist’s name stems from her dam, with Tapputi, a female perfumer, the first chemist in history.

Perfumist breezed up in 10.7 seconds at the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale and was purchased for $190,000 by the combination of Bjorn Baker Racing, bloodstock agents Phill Cataldo and Jim Clarke, along with OTI Racing.

From a 15-race career, Perfumist has now recorded six wins and three seconds. She has earned A$542,508 in stakes.

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