By Kelsey Riley
Last weekend's opening day of The Championships produced a performance for the ages when Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) employed a devastating turn of foot to win the G1 Doncaster H. The baton was picked up by another mare Saturday in Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}), who ran out an eye-catching winner of the day's featured A$4 million G1 Queen Elizabeth S., Australia's richest weight-for-age race. Lucia Valentina and jockey Damien Oliver raced a long last down the Randwick backstretch over the heavy going as Awesome Rock (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) took up the running on the outside, with Mongolian Khan (Aus) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) about three lengths off the lead in fifth and Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}) and Preferment (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) racing in tandem about two lengths further adrift.
Still last and about 10 lengths away as the field rounded the turn, Oliver bided his time for an opening as Rising Romance (NZ) (Ekraar) grabbed the lead and Criterion was shut out on the rail. Oliver shifted Lucia Valentina out a few paths for running room, meanwhile, and the dark bay mare responded with an explosive turn-of-foot. She charged past the fast-finishing favourite The United States (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) under a handride approaching the 100-metre mark and was never in danger thereafter. Happy Clapper (Aus) (Teofilo {Ire}), second to Winx in last weekend's Doncaster, got up to be third, further franking the form of the Doncaster after that race's third, Azkadellia, won the G1 Queen Of The Turf S. a race earlier. Lucia Valentina completed a successful day for New Zealand-breds, which won three of the four Group 1s on the card. It was also a landmark day for the mare's owner, Lib Petagna, after whose daughter Lucia Valentina is named. Petagna also won the G1 Australian Oaks earlier on the card with Sophia Rosa (NZ) (Makfi {GB}).
Lucia Valentina was making just her second start this prep, and trainer Kris Lees said, “It's very rewarding when you set a horse for a race so far out. I just thought I had to do something a bit different, thinking I would be taking on Winx, to be fair. She's got a terrific turn of foot, she's so effective at 2000 metres and she loves a gap between runs.”
“I just wanted to get her here with fresh legs,” Lees added. “She didn't have a spell, she just had a little bit of time off, so she got here in really good order. I had no doubt about her being effective second- up.”
Saturday, Randwick, Australia
QUEEN ELIZABETH S.-G1, A$4,114,500, ATC, 4-9, 3yo/up, Open Weight For Age, 2000mT, 2:04.82, Soft.
1–LUCIA VALENTINA (NZ), 57.0, m, 5, by Savabeel
1st Dam: Staryn Glenn (NZ), by Montjeu (IRE)
2nd Dam: Soleil Etoile (NZ), by Star Way (GB)
3rd Dam: Polly Soleil (GB), by Roi Soleil (GB)
(NZ$60,000 Ylg 2012 NZB National Yearling Sale) O-L Petagna;
B-Mrs H G & W G Bax, Waikato, NZ; T-K A Lees; J-D Oliver;
A$2,514,500. Lifetime Record: GSW-NZ, 27-7-1-4,
A$4,219,089. *1/2 to Malandrino (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}),
GSW-NZ, $392,641. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–The United States (IRE), 59.0, h, 6, Galileo (Ire)–Beauty is
Truth (IRE), by Pivotal (GB). O-N C Williams, Mr & Mrs L J
Williams, P M Mehrten, B N Singer, V J Sammartino, Echo
Beach Bloodstock P/L, M S Gudinski, J & Mrs F Ingham &
Heffernan Bloodstock; B-Beauty Is Truth Syndicate, IRE;
T-Robert Hickmott; J-K Mc Evoy; A$750,000.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]3–Happy Clapper, 59.0, g, 5, Teofilo (Ire)–Busking, by Encosta
de Lago. O-M W Thomas; B-Mr M Thomas ACT; T-P J Webster;
J-B Avdulla; A$350,000.
Margins: 2.3 len, 2.8 len, 5.1 len. Odds: 7.00, 3.60, 7.00.
Also Ran: Rising Romance (NZ), Happy Trails, It's Somewhat (USA), Hauraki, Mongolian Khan, Dibayani (IRE), Fenway, Criterion (NZ), Preferment (NZ), Leebaz (NZ), Awesome Rock.
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
Lucia Valentina has been a stalwart in Australia's most important races over the last two years, but she began her racing career in her native New Zealand, where she won two of five races, including the G3 Wellington S. as a 3-year-old. Third in Warwick Farm's G2 Surround S. in her Australian debut, Lucia Valentina was 12th in the G1 Coolmore Classic before rebounding to cause a mild upset in the 2014 G1 Vinery Stud S. She was third behind Rising Romance in the Australian Oaks on this day two years ago during the inaugural running of The Championships, and added to her Group 1 tally when winning the G1 Turnbull S. the following spring. Lucia Valentina failed to win in five tries in Sydney last autumn, finishing sixth behind Criterion in last year's renewal of the Queen Elizabeth, and it took her four starts to wind up to a win after turning five last spring. That breakthrough came in Flemington's 2000-metre G2 Matriarch S. Nov. 7, after which she traveled to Hong Kong for Sha Tin's G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup. The mare wound up fifth of 13, beaten 5 1/2 lengths, and was subsequently given a lengthy holiday with this target in mind. Lucia Valentina resumed in the Mar. 12 G1 Coolmore Classic and came with a strong late run to be fourth behind Peeping (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) and Saturday's G1 Queen Of The Turf S. winner Azkadellia at 20-1, lining her up for her intended target. Lucia Valentina completed a good day at the office Saturday for Damien Oliver, who also rode Azkadellia to victory as well as winning the A$400,000 Provincial Championships Final.
“I am on cloud nine, this is amazing,” said Oliver. “She couldn't go with them at all early. If you just leave her alone, this mare, she will reward you late. Coming to the turn I had a lot of horse and not much room to go anywhere. I went up in between a couple as we straightened and I got shut out of that. She picked herself up again and just went whoosh.”
“At the furlong it was nearly all over,” Oliver added. “I went from the outhouse to the penthouse in about 200 metres. Even going back further I had nice horses in front of me, Happy Clapper–and Criterion in front of him–but they jammed up coming to the turn. I had to peel off and there was a narrow gap at the top of the straight, which shut on me too. She picked herself up great though and went zoom.”
Lucia Valentina's dam has a yearling filly by Exceed and Excel (Aus), and produced a full-brother to Lucia Valentina last year.
Jockey Kerrin McEvoy said of the runner-up The United States, “Really happy with his run he produced. At the 300 metres he looked the winner, but we just laboured a little bit in the ground whereas the winner loved it. It was a very credible run.”
Criterion will now be retired, as planned, to Newgate Farm in the Hunter Valley, and trainer Murray Baker advised Mongolian Khan would also be retired. Three-time Group 1 winner Preferment failed to handle the ground, according to jockey Hugh Bowman. He will now be spelled.
Royal Randwick played host to 25,195 racegoers for the second day of The Championships–which outnumbered day one–and Racing NSW Chief Executive Officer Peter V'landys said of The Championships, which was completing its third renewal, “It was a fantastic day and the crowd was bigger this weekend, which was a great sign. It's going to keep building up each year now, but today there wasn't a spare blade of grass to
stand on. This is just going to get bigger and better every year.”
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