Crown Oaks Day: Racing highlights and results

Dea-lightful Oaks result for Payne, Lloyd 

Class prevailed in the VRC Oaks when Sydney filly Proxima Dea maintained her unbeaten record with an emphatic win in the $1 million Group 1 contest. 

The David Payne-trained filly banged a sixth picket in the fence when she carried rising superstar jockey Zac Lloyd to his first Group 1 win in Melbourne in the 2500-metre Classic. 

The Oaks win came 12 days after Proxima Dea defeated the boys in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and her veteran trainer said she might be the horse he’s waited his 54-year training career for. 

“I want to win the Melbourne Cup, so maybe I’ll have to hang in there,” Payne said. 

“She's such a good mover and she doesn't spend an ounce of energy. 

“She’d bred to stay and from day one I said the Oaks and I stuck to it. Maybe I should have gone for the Derby, I don't know, but she'll go for a holiday now and she deserves it. 

“This is her first prep, and she’s won six in a row and two Group Ones.” 

Proxima Dea, a daughter of Tarzino and Invisible Coin, which makes her a sister to Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess, logged her Oaks win 117 days after making a winning debut in a 1400-metre 2YO Handicap at Randwick on July 11. 

Chiringita gets on the board In Australia 

A large contingent of owners cheered home Chiringita to her first win on Australian soil in the TCL Trophy (1700m). 

The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained mare is part-owned by My Racehorse, a microshare syndication company. 

“I told all of our guys that she could win today,” Kent Jnr said. 

“There’s lots of good people in her, and I thought she was very tough. She was there to be beaten but she pinned her ears back and was never letting the horse get past.” 

Chiringita had won two of her six starts in the UK and was successful at Ascot in her final outing before heading to Australia, filling a place just once in her initial preparation for the new stable. 

Kent Jnr said the team had worked hard to have Chiringita primed to win first-up on Thursday. 

“It's very hard to produce a horse to win first-up, 1700 (metres), let alone on Oaks Day,” Kent Jnr said. 

“I'm sure a lot of horses have been targeted at this race, so big, big effort, and there's more to come from her for sure.” 

Chiringita, under Zac Lloyd, held off a determined Illyivy to win by a half-head with Jenni You Think in third place. 

Baker galloper King of the greys 

A spectacle of each Melbourne Cup Carnival is the Subzero Handicap (1400m), a race restricted to grey horses only. 

While it was a good spectacle to watch, it was also proved beneficial for punters with Sydney visitor Youre Not The King a well-backed favourite and getting the job done. 

Youre Not The King is prepared by Bjorn Baker and was ridden in emphatic fashion by Rachel King to a 1-¾ length victory from Alabama Fox with Santa Ana Moon in third place. 

Luke Hilton, the racing manager for Baker, said the omens aligned for Youre Not The King. 

“His mother (Pepperano) won this race in 2016, and the owners told me during the week it also drew barrier two,” Hilton said. 

“A few omens fell into place there, but Bjorn’s done a great job with him. 

“He's brought him along nice and slowly, won a Hawkesbury 64 and then went to town and we were throwing him a little bit in the deep end up in grade today, but he handled the rise and he should go on to better things. 

“Bjorn had in mind if he could come and win this race, get his rating up he might be able to put him into some better races before the end of the year. 

“He's definitely progressive and he's got such a good attitude, he handled everything really well today.” 

Harry’s Yacht’s special win 

Harry’s Yacht posted the first Black Type win of his career in the Chester Manifold Stakes, but anyone who had seen the Flemington gelding’s previous wins would have noted something missing. 

Steve Smith, the five-year-old’s breeder and exuberant owner who dresses in Harry’s Yacht colours on raceday, was nowhere to be seen. 

He was unable to attend what proved to be the gelding’s first win since part-owner Greg Fulton lost his battle with cancer and co-trainer Troy Corstens said it made for a lot more subdued post-race than any of his other eight wins. 

“Unfortunately, Steve can’t be here today and Greg, one of the two main owners, passed away not long ago,” Corstens, who trains in partnership with his father Leon and nephew Will Larkin, said. 

“But a number of his good friends are in this horse, and he would be looking down and giving us some help.” 

Harry Yacht dug deep under Ben Allen to defeat Group 1 winner Pinstriped by three-quarters-of-a-length, with Revelare a short-neck back third with the $120,000 winner’s cheque lifting his career earnings to $976,100.

Bella Verona win rich Inglis prize 

The addition of blinkers to the gear of Bella Verona helped the mare register the third win of her campaign in the Inglis Bracelet (1600m), upsetting the backers of odds-on favourite Sass Appeal. 

After wins in easier grade at Bendigo and Geelong before finishing third at Geelong in her most recent outing, trainer Matt Laurie called for blinkers to be applied to the race day gear of Bella Verona. 

It worked, as Bella Verona under Patriock Moloney, tracked the leader Sass Appeal before having clear running inside the final 350m, pulling away late to score a 2-¼ length win over the favourite. 

“We've worked her in them a few times at home because she very much doesn't volunteer a great deal in her gallops,” Laurie said. 

“She does the bare minimum, so we've had them up our sleeves. 

“She's been winning without them but we were sort of like ‘well are we going to step to 2000 (metres) or are we going to stay at the mile’ and this race was perfect for her and we felt the blinkers could be the right move.” 

Nobbler lands Carnival prize 

Into his second campaign in Australia, Nobbler has provided Chris Waller with another Melbourne Cup Carnival winner. 

German-bred Nobbler took out the Sigma Trophy (1800m) and in the process relegated the horse that beat him in Sydney last start into the also rans. 

Perisher was sent out the $1.65 favourite after beating Nobbler at Rosehill last month but wound up in sixth place on Thursday. 

Waller said Nobbler had gradually kept improving with Damian Lane giving the gelding an excellent ride. 

“He hasn’t been in Australia too long,” Waller said. 

“His last start run was very good and gave us confidence to come down here. It looked good to watch, he was back and looking for runs and Damian just kept at him, it was good to see. 

“It’s a great week of racing, it was one of the restricted races on the card but still good to look at.” 

Sutton’s Sulek lands Country Final cash 

Ciaron Maher has been a hard man to beat this Spring Carnival, which is what made Thursday’s Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final so important to the likes of Dom Sutton. 

It is a $500,000 race that is the culmination of a series that takes in heats at country tracks restricted to horses trained by Victorian trainers who have not had more than 15 winners for the season, meaning Maher and a number of Australia’s other biggest stables are ineligible. 

Sutton was delighted to see his plan to target it with Sulek come off. 

“I was saying in the pre-race interview that it is nice not to run into the likes of Ciaron Maher,” Sutton said with a laugh, in reference to his counterpart who trained the trifecta in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. 

“It’s a really good initiative and we got the result.” 

Sulek, a four-year-old son of Super Seth, responded to Billy Egan’s urgings to wear down Wetumpka and score a three-quarters-of-a-length win. 

Third, one length away, was Rosa Aotearoa. 

Lady Catalina denies favourite in Red Roses 

Lady Catalina has finally delivered on the big stage claiming a Stakes race for the Ciaron Maher stable. 

The three-year-old daughter of Written Tycoon from Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Away Game had been a cause of frustration for trainer Ciaron Maher but put all that behind her with victory in the Group 3 Red Rose Stakes (1100m). 

A debut winner at Newcastle earlier in the year, Lady Catalina had been winless in her next seven starts while racing in Stakes company. 

Lady Catalina was even dropped back to benchmark 70 grade at Cranbourne in her most recent outing and was beaten as a short-priced favourite. 

Maher produced a jockey switch with Blake Shinn taking over on Lady Catalina who fought off a determined bid by the $1.90 favourite Sequinned to score by a nose with Semantics in third place. 

Lady Catalina was one of two runners the Maher team saddled with Calamari Ring being a late scratching at the barrier. 

“That’s racing, isn’t it,” Maher said. 

“We had Calamari Ring pulled out, didn’t get her opportunity, and obviously the horse’s health is first and foremost, and then we win the race with a $16 shot. 

“How good?” 

Rey Magnerio sprouts wings 

The Robbie Griffiths-trained Rey Magnerio has delivered a stunning burst of speed to win the Listed Century Stakes (1000m). 

Last at ‘Clocktower’, jockey Willie Pike angled the sprinter to the outside fence where he unleashed to gain victory on the line. 

Rey Magnerio finished third in the corresponding race last year before travelling to Perth where he finished third in the Winterbottom Stakes before winning the Gold Rush. 

The two races are again on the program for Rey Magnerio after Griffiths elected to start the sprinter on Thursday rather than in the Champions Sprint (1200m) on Saturday. 

“I've got to thank Liam O'Keefe because I had a good discussion with him yesterday and again this morning because our horse needs solid ground,” Griffiths said. 

“He said the track's going to be great. He said that I think on Saturday you're going to be in a lot of trouble with the weather forecast. That made the decision very easy to come here.  

“He was always going to WA for the Winterbottom, so whether he ran today or Saturday he was always going to the Winterbottom, into the Gold Rush and in many ways today is a better lead up for him. 

“We ran in this race last year as a lead up and instead of taking on Tempted and the superstars, although he's had a solid run, it's easier to pull up from a solid run over 1000 (metres) than it is over the extra 200 metres. 

“We're very happy and we're looking forward to WA.” 

For the second meeting in a row, Pike has taken the final event at the Melbourne Cup Carnival having scored aboard Fundamental Nature on Tuesday.