An Impending Title Defense

[Wandering Eyes]

Impending (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) is set to join his sire on the Darley roster later this year, but he has more work to do yet on the racetrack before setting off to stud, with a defense of the G1 Stradbroke H. in two weeks’ time a likely target after he collected a second Group 1 in Saturday’s G1 Kingsford Smith Cup.

A useful 3-year-old while in the shadow of stablemate Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d’Oro), Impending had come close on a few occasions at the highest level before breaking through over the smart mare In Her Time (Aus) (Time Thief {Aus}) in last June’s Stradbroke. He made just two starts in the spring, including a third in the G1 Darley Classic, before focusing on this circuit that he clearly enjoys. Impending picked up a win in the G2 Victory S. on Apr. 28 before finishing a narrow second to English (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) in the G1 Doomben 10,000 two weeks ago.

Last turning for home on Saturday, Impending had to find his way through a tight seam under Damian Browne and looked to have plenty to do in midstretch, but he got up just in time to nail Le Romain (Aus) (Hard Spun {Aus}) on the line. Those two were the joint favourites, with the third choice Champagne Cuddles (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) sticking on for third.

Pedigree Notes…

Impending’s dam Mnemosyne (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) was an excellent servant to Woodlands Stud on the racetrack with wins in the G1 Thousand Guineas and G1 Queen of the Turf S., and she is now proving just as prolific as a producer for new owner Godolphin, which purchased the Woodlands stock in 2008. The following year she produced Forget (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), a Group 3 winner, and two years later followed the G2 Silver Slipper S. second Memorial (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}). Impending followed a further two years after that, and the following year she produced the listed-placed filly Epidemic (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}). Mnemosyne’s last reported foal is a 2016 Sepoy (Aus) foal that died.

Saturday, Doomben, Australia
KINGSFORD-SMITH CUP-G1, A$709,489, BRC, 5-26, Open WFA, 1350mT, 1:19.51, Soft.
1–IMPENDING, 59.0, h, 4, by Lonhro
1st Dam: Mnemosyne (MG1SW-Aus, A$1,371,975), by Encosta de Lago
2nd Dam: My Juliet, by Canny Lad
3rd Dam: Perfect Draw, by Whiskey Road (USA)
O-Godolphin Australia Syndicate (Mgr: Vin Cox); B-Darley
NSW; T-James Cummings; J-D J Browne; A$436,489. Lifetime
Record: 17-5-2-6, A$2,403,989. *Full to Epidemic (Aus), SP-
Aus, A$296,055; 1/2 to Forget (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}),
GSW-Aus, A$415,075; and Memorial (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}),
GSP-Aus, A$337,250. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Le Romain, 59.0, g, 5, Hard Spun (USA)–Mignard, by
Strategic. O-A Carusi, A P Agius, L Nicaj, A Labbozzetta, G
Serratore, J Altamura, Miss M Bilusic & Mrs S Livaja; B-Mr A
Carusi NSW; T-K A Lees; J-G Schofield; A$143,500.
3–Champagne Cuddles, 55.0, f, 3, Not a Single Doubt–Sky
Cuddle, by Snippets. O-Champagne Ladies (Mgr: Mrs M J
Hardy); B-Ramsey Pastoral Co Pty Ltd QLD; T-Bjorn Baker; J-C
W Brown; A$73,500.
Margins: 0.1 len, 1.4 len, 1.7 len. Odds: 3.20, 3.20, 5.00.
Also Ran: English, Endless Drama (IRE), Volpe Veloce, Care to Think, Monsieur Gustave, Most Important.
Click for the Racing Post result. Click for the free Arion.co.nz catalogue-style pedigree.

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