Arcadia Queen had been expected to be a minor player if the pre-post betting market was to be believed with Danny O’Brien’s Russian Camelot all the talk, but she was having none of it and left the raging favourite in her wake.
Her emphatic victory handed trainers Grant and Alana Williams a first Group 1 victory on Victorian soil and another in the long line for breeder and owner Bob Peters while jockey William Pike revelled in an outstanding day.
He had earlier won on stablemate Windstorm (Redoute’s Choice) in the Listed The Big Screen Company Weekend Hussler and landed the G2 McCafe Schillaci S. on Dirty Work (Written Tycoon) for Team Hawkes and the G1 Neds Caulfield Guineas with Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon).
Arcadia Queen’s Melbourne campaign was away to a stuttering start when a foot abscess forced her out of the G1 Memsie S., but bounced back to run second in the G2 Let’s Elope S. and was then also runner-up behind Russian Camelot in the G1 Underwood S.
William Pike and Arcadia Queen
Revenge executed perfectly
She turned the tables in merciless fashion when she peeled off his back and finished far too well to score by 1.25l.
“I think I got sucked in a bit the other day from a good gate and was a spot closer than I wanted. She travels strongly wherever you put her and she overdid it a bit,” Pike said.
“This time she travelled strongly again and I got in behind Russian Camelot and got my hopes up. I knew my only chance was to try and catch him in the last 200 metres and there was no point trying to match motors with him before that.
“That’s exactly what I did and sat there biding my time and things panned out well. We did sprint really hard off the bend and I shook her up and she got straight back on the bridle and cruised to the line.”
Arcadia Queen’s performance has put her firmly into the G1 Cox Plate picture.
“You would have to look at that now. I’m pretty proud of her and she’s always been a favourite so it’s nice to see her back on the winner’s list,” Pike said. “She can be very hard work around the stables so everyone deserves a pat on the back.”
“I’m pretty proud of her and she’s always been a favourite so it’s nice to see her back on the winner’s list.” – William Pike
Co-trainer Grant Williams echoed Pike’s thoughts and was elated to see all the hard work rewarded with Group 1 success.
“It’s been a great team effort and has been a lot of months in the making. A heap of recovery work has been done with her,” he said.
“I’d still like her feet to be better, but it’s great. It was a typical Willie Pike ride and he got on the back of the horse we were to follow and now we can look forward to the Cox Plate.”
There were no excuses for Russian Camelot, who was angled three wide into the straight and hit the front, but he had no answer to Arcadia Queen and his colours were lowered by 1.25l.
O’Brien said his charge was beaten by the better horse on the day and paid tribute to her performance and was hoping for a hard-run Cox Plate for Russian Camelot, who he thought may now be looking for more ground.
