In his sixth season of racing, Darren Weir's Gailo Chop (Fr) (Deportivo {GB}) has looked better than ever and he posted a dominant performance to win the G1 Ranvet S. under Mark Zahra on Saturday. The 7-year-old was in his element on the soft ground and was always prominent in the 10-furlong contest, traveling sweetly as Classic Uniform (Aus) (Al Maher {Aus}) set the pace. At the 400 metre marker Gailo Chop eased into the lead but was being stalked on his outside by Single Gaze (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}). However, he quickly shrugged off that challenger and stretched clear up the straight to justify favouritism by three lengths. Single Gaze held off Prized Icon (Aus) (More Than Ready) by a head for second.
“He's been a great horse to me and he thoroughly deserved that win,” Mark Zahra told Racing.com post-race. “I was happy for him to have a bunny today, it just gave him something to follow and got him off the rail a little bit. Terry Henderson [of owners OTI Rcing] has been crowing all week about the wet-track and he was spot on. Darren [Weir] is flying, I'm just happy to be a part of it.”
It was a first Sydney Group 1 win for trainer Darren Weir, who wasn't present to accept his prize. That honour fell to his Warrnambool foreman Jarrod McLean, who said, “Obviously it's a huge thrill today to collect Weiry's first Group 1 in Sydney with one of our stable favourites. He's an incredible horse, he wins races from the front and it's a huge thrill to win up here.”
Gailo Chop began his career in France under the tutelage of Antoine de Watrigant, for whom he won seven races in his native country highlighted by a win in the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano – Haras du Logis Saint-Germain at Deauville in 2014. At this stage OTI Racing had bought into the gelding and the following year he was shipped to Australia, albeit still under de Watrigant's care, and on his second run Down Under he landed the G1 Longines Mackinnon S. at Flemington on his favoured soft ground. He returned to the Northern Hemisphere but saw racecourse action only twice in 2016, including when a never- dangerous seventh behind Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan. Gailo Chop then got a one-way ticket back to Australia, switching to Darren Weir's team and the highlight of his 2017 campaign was a narrow win over Johannes Vermeer (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Ladbrokes S. at Caulfield last October. He resumed in fine fettle this year, bagging the G3 TS Carlyon Cup and the G2 Peter Young S. both at Caulfield in February before running a half-length second to Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) in the G1 TAB Australian Cup at Flemington two weeks ago.
Pedigree Notes…
Gailo Chop was bred by Alain Chopard in whose colours he raced until winning the G3 Prix La Force in 2014, and is the first and only Group 1 winner for his sire Deportivo (GB). Unusually for a multiple Group 1 winner, Gailo Chop is also the only stakes winner in three generations of his pedigree. His dam, the 18-year-old Grenoble (Fr) (Marignan), was a winner in France and although she has bred four winners from five runner none of her progeny have the class of Gailo Chop, who was her last reported foal.
Saturday, Rosehill, Australia
RANVET S.-G1, A$686,000, ATC, 3-24, 3yo/up, Open Weight For Age, 2000mT, 2:04.78, Soft.
1–GAILO CHOP (FR), 59.0, g, 7, by Deportivo (GB)
1st Dam: Grenoble (FR), by Marignan (USA)
2nd Dam: Blue Wings (FR), by In the Wings (GB)
3rd Dam: Blue Rider (USA), by Wajima (USA)
O-Oti Racing (Mgr: T Henderson), J Higgins, Mrs F Archibald, L
Webb, Ms D McKeown, Ms M Webb, D & Mrs D Miller, A &
Mrs P Goodfellow, Werrett Bloodstock, Bobbin Along &
Uthmeyer Racing; B-Alain Chopard; T-D K Weir; J-M Zahra;
A$409,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW & MG1SP-Fr, 27-13-3-3,
A$3,268,047. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Single Gaze, 57.0, m, 5, Not a Single Doubt–Redaluca's Gaze,
by Intergaze. (A$70,000 Ylg 2014 MM Gold Coast Yearling
Sale) O-N Olive, M P Hay, D E Tout, W P Oxford, M Notaras, R P
Keeley, P Kouvelis, N Keeley, M J Obrien, R A Stuart & Redbank
North Pty Ltd; B-Mr JA Middleton NSW; T-N J Olive; J-Ms K
O'Hara; A$132,000.
3–Prized Icon, 59.0, h, 4, More Than Ready (USA)–Tropical
Affair, by Danehill (USA). O/B-Gooree Stud (Mgr: E M
Cojuangco); T-K A Lees; J-J Bowman; A$69,000.
Margins: 3.0 len, 3.2 len, 6.5 len. Odds: 1.05, 4.00, 10.00.
Also Ran: Consensus (NZ), Sarrasin (GB), Harlem (GB), Ventura Storm (IRE), Classic Uniform.
Click for the Racing Post result. Click for the free Arion.co.nz catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
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