By Bren O'Brien
The Chris Waller stable is hoping the confidence gained from a second career win at Canterbury on Wednesday can propel well-bred mare Archanna (Snitzel), the three-quarter sister to five-time Group 1 winner and Arrowfield stallion, The Autumn Sun, to a new level.
An impressive winner on debut at Warwick Farm back in April, Archanna had been high in the market in her past three runs, but had only managed fourth, second and fifth.
Dropping back from Saturday grade but up to BM78 company and up to 1500 metres for the first time, the Chris Waller-trained 4-year-old was given a perfect ride by James McDonald, charging late to defeat race favourite Nimalee (So You Think {NZ}) by 0.2l, with stablemate Betcha Flying (Uncle Mo {USA}) another 0.7l back in third.
Watch: Archanna break her maiden at Canterbury
While there are high expectations of the mare, given her breeding, stable representative Charlie Duckworth said it was important to allow Archanna to build her confidence by going through her grades.
"She's regally bred just like her ownership group and it’s great to get another win on the board for her. Obviously, we have an opinion that she is much better than Wednesday grade, but just drawing wide on Saturday with the light weight here, we thought this looked a suitable option," Duckworth said.
"The way it fell was perfect. It was a nice, small field and she seemed to round them up quite nicely. She might have lugged in over the last 200 metres, but James straightened her up and she got the job done.
"It was a nice, small field and she seemed to round them up quite nicely." - Charlie Duckworth
"Once it was getting to the business end, she applied herself nicely, so onwards and upwards for her. It will be interesting to see what James thinks in terms of what distance she can get to."
Given her pedigree and her growing race profile, it wouldn’t surprise to see Archanna tackle stakes company this time in.
She was the top-priced filly at the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, costing Waller Racing and Guy Mulcaster $1.3 million. She was sold two weeks before The Autumn Sun debuted with an impressive maiden win of his own, in his case at Randwick.
The son of Redoute's Choice would go on to five Group 1 wins in the next 11 months before being retired to stand at Arrowfield .
Archanna as a yearling
Her dam Azmiyna (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Azamour (Ire) (Night Shift {USA}) and Group 2 winner Aranzan (Ire) (Anabaa {USA}), out of stakes winner Asmara (USA) (Lear Fan {USA}). She returned to Europe last year, successfully in foal to Deep Impact (Jpn) with a stop in Japan on the way home and producing a filly before visiting Siyouni (Fr).
Her penultimate Australian foal was the now 3-year-old Foscolo (Not A Single Doubt) and is also with Waller but is yet to debut, while Archanna's full brother, the 2-year-old, Field Legend, was purchased privately by Bon Ho and is in the same stable.
Later on the Canterbury card, the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Argenteus (Written Tycoon) made it back-to-back wins in impressive fashion in the 2020 Vinery Stallions H. over 1250 metres.
The one time $900,000 Magic Millions purchase for James Harron looks to be hitting his peak as a spring 3-year-old and won by 2.3l from Kukeracha (NZ) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) with Patrolling (Epaulette) another 0.4l away in third.
Watch: Argenteus win at Canterbury
Jockey Tim Clark was happy with the improvement Argenteus is showing this time in.
"He knocked me off the other day, so it was nice to go and get a win with him. He has always shown promise a lot from early on, wet tracks were probably against him," he said.
"It's nice to see him put a couple together. He probably just gained a bit of confidence from the other day and he was able to use that today.
"His mind was on the job today. That was good and I think he might be even better out to 1400 metres and maybe further."
