Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions (Michael McInally)
Raceday Recap
Lightweight 3-year-old filly Stefi Magnetica wins give Zac Lloyd his first Group 1, and is the fifth Group 1 winner for All Too Hard.
$1.7million Chairman’s Sale graduate C’Est Magique wins the G2 Dane Ripper S. to become Zoustar’s 55th stakes winner.
Online purchase Algeron wins Brisbane Cup and will head to Melbourne in the spring.
Bases Loaded makes all the running in the G3 Gunsynd Classic.
Willinga Beast becomes champion sire Snitzel’s 145th stakes winner, and was having her first start since being purchased for $675,000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
First Group 1 for boom young jockey Lloyd in Stradbroke
Apprentice jockey Zac Lloyd added to his already impressive resume with his first Group 1 win in Saturday’s G1 Stradbroke Handicap on Bjorn Baker-trained 3-year-old filly Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard) who won by 0.25l from tough racemare Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) with favourite Vilana (Hallowed Crown) 2l back in third.
“It is really good just to get that Group 1 on my resume. I've had some great opportunities in the pasy year or so and I haven't been able to capitalise. To get the job done today in a very big race, it is very special,” said Zac Lloyd who rode his first winner at Dalby, Queensland, back in November 2020, and rode Steffi Magnetica at the light weight of 50kg.
“I was very confident pre-race. She galloped enormous on Tuesday. My dad and I went through the race thoroughly and we honestly thought we were on the right horse. The first furlong or two went perfect. She was in a good rhythm, she wasn't overracing.
“Just as a couple of horses started dropping back in our face I had to make a decision to go around with the pack but I ultimately thought there'd be too much traffic so I thought I was travelling so well I was happy to go inside of them.
“She was tough. I saw Bella Nipotina and I thought that was one horse you don't want to be in a finish with, but she was great.”
“She (Stefi Magnetica) was tough. I saw Bella Nipotina and I thought that was one horse you don't want to be in a finish with, but she was great.” - Zac Lloyd
Stefi Magnetica was coming off a last start third in the G3 Fred Best Classic over the same 1400 metre trip, and all up has three wins and six placings from 13 starts with earnings over $2.1million. This was her first stakes win, although she did run second in the G1 Surround S. in March behind Tropical Squall (Prized Icon).
“She's an amazing filly. She won a Wellington 2-year-old race at the back end of the season, she won a BM58 at Orange in December, she was just chinned in the Surround,” said stable representative Jim Clark.
“Bjorn opted to give her a short break and set her for the winter. Her run in the 10 000 was amazing. She was in the wrong part of the track, I think everyone saw that. It was an amazing ride there. To win Queensland's greatest race with a filly that (Gary… and Mitch Cunningham) bought as a yearling and trained by one of my best mates and one of my best supporters in Bjorn, is the biggest thrill of my career and I'm just so pleased.”
Zac Lloyd added to his resume with his first Group 1 win in Saturday’s G1 Stradbroke H. on Stefi Magnetica | Image courtesy of Magic Millions (Michael McInally)
She becomes the 25th stakes winner for All Too Hard. All Too Hard has four other Group 1 winners; Alligator Blood, Behemoth, Forbidden Love, and Wellington. Beautifully bred, Stefi Magnetica’s dam Mid Summer Music (Oamaru Force) won the 2012 G1 Stradbroke Handicap.
Mid Summer Music has produced five winners from as many to race, with Group 3 winner Hellfest (Fastnet Rock) and stakes placed winner Euphoric Summer (Not A Single Doubt) being her other black type horses.
Buyers Cunningham Thoroughbreds, Clarke Bloodstock (FBAA) and Bjorn Baker purchased Stefi Magnetica for $140,000, a price which seems a bargain in hindsight, from Cressfield at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. Cressfield sold Mid Summer Music’s current yearling filly (by Bivouac) to Scott Waters for $100,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
$1.7million mare C’Est Magique gives new owners immediate payoff
Only six weeks after C’Est Magique (Zoustar) sold for $1.7million at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale, the 4-year-old mare rewarded her new owners with a 1.4l win in the G2 Dane Ripper S. at Eagle Farm.
“Coolmore purchased the horse and entrusted our team to train her. We're just taking over. I spoke Grahame (Begg) before the race. She's a lovely mare and we weren't sure whether she'd cope with this track - it is quite firm today,” said trainer Chris Waller. Ridden by James McDonald, C'Est Magique took her record to two wins and five placings from 14 starts with earnings over $700,000. As a 3-year-old last season, she ran second in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. to In Secret (I Am Invincible).
“She's a lovely horse. Grahame did a great job with her. She's got good, clean legs. We haven't panicked and had the confidence to back her. She's got good form and a talented horse.” Waller also confirmed that she would head to the G1 Tatt’s Tiara next.
C’Est Magique became the 55th stakes winner for Zoustar, whose theoretical commercial value was set at $78million earlier in the week when a share sold for $1.3million on Inglis Digital. A half-sister to Group 1 winner and young sire Written By, C’Est Magique is one of seven winners for her winning dam Yau Chin (Tobougg {Ire}).
Fawkner Park earns Caulfield Cup spot with Q22 win
Fawkner Park (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) became the fourth European import in a row to win the G2 Q22 and in doing so, he earned himself a guaranteed start in the G1 Caulfield Cup. “"I love them all but I particularly love this horse now,” said trainer Annabel Neasham.
“It was an impressive win. It was a funny race. I was trying to watch all of them where they were and there was a lot of shuffling around going on midrace. You could see Tyler (Schiller) biding his time where he was and once he got on the back of the right horse and popped out at the top of the straight, it was an easy watch.”
Fawkner Park took his record to eight wins from 17 starts with earnings over $1.3million, and was coming off a last start third in the G1 Doomben Cup. He has now won three of his last four starts.
“He's a lightly raced horse and it is great fun to have this horse with Bennett Racing because they've given us a fair few horses and it is nice to repay them with a big winner. He's a very exciting horse and we see the key to him with the right jockey (Schiller).
“He's got a big heart, he's got a good stride, he goes on soft, goes on firm and I think we should have a big spring to look forward to. We've seen a lot of horses campaign well up here and then go on to have big springs. Hopefully he can go up another notch against some of those better horses now.”
“He's (Fawkner Park) a very exciting horse and we see the key to him with the right jockey (Schiller).” - Annabel Neasham
He will take his spot in the G1 Caulfield Cup next spring. A 46,000gns (AU$95,000) yearling, Fawkner Park was purchased by Annabel Neasham, Bennett Racing, and Blandford Bloodstock for 120,000gns (AU$252,000) at the 2022 Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale and was the winner of one of his three starts at that point. He now has earnings over $1.3million.
His sire Zoffany (Ire) shuttled to Australia between 2012 and 2015, and has 62 stakes winners globally.
Who says Aussie breds can’t stay? Not Algeron
Algeron (Teofilo {Ire}) became the first Australian bred winner of the two mile G2 Brisbane Cup in five years with a 1.32l win over Mostly Cloudy (Ire) (Harzand {Ire}) and Captain Envious (NZ) (Savabeel). “He's been a fantastic horse since Bjorn bought him relatively inexpensively. He's had a really good prep and his run the other day put the writing on the wall,” said Jim Clarke.
“He's (Algeron) been a fantastic horse since Bjorn bought him relatively inexpensively. He's had a really good prep and his run the other day put the writing on the wall.” - Jim Clarke
“They were very confident he'd be strong at the end of two miles. They ran along nicely and it was a really cool ride from Dylan (Gibbons). Great result. Each run he has kept improving physically. I thought he looked a million dollars today. Stepping up to the two miles is the key.”
Algeron was purchased from Godolphin for $40,000 at the 2023 Inglis November Digital Sale by PM and LP Bloodstock. He was having his fourth start for Baker, and this was his first win for his new owners. Previously, he had won three of his 25 starts including the G3 Kingston Town S. and Listed St Leger.
“It'd be a great story - an online purchase and one that could get to a Melbourne Cup after a wind operation. Bjorn has had very good luck with that,” Clarke said of the plan to head towards the ultimate two mile race, the G1 Melbourne Cup.
Jim Clarke and Bjorn Baker
Algeron is the first foal of Group 2-placed city winner Algeria (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) who has an unraced 2-year-old and a yearling as her only two other foals.
Front running Bases Loaded wins Gunsynd Classic
Gai Waterhouse knows how to train a front runner, and her 3-year-old colt Bases Loaded (Deep Field) showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the G3 Gunsynd Classic field when winning by 2l from Port Lockroy (Better Than Ready) and McHale (Shooting To Win). “He's a very talented horse and that is the style of racing that he likes. The mile is his pet distance and a sustained tempo which he can do. I thought he broke their hearts in the mid stages the way he got rolling and was able to be tough enough to hang on,” said Waterhouse’s co-trainer Adrian Bott.
The win was Bases Loaded’s second career victory after he won on debut as a 2-year-old. At two, he placed at group level three times including second to Militarize (NZ) (Dundeel {NZ}) in the G1 Champagne S. He had a long break after his 2-year-old season with Bott saying that he needed time to grow into his knees.
“(Third-up) has been the key. He's been a talented horse right from the outset. The best run of his career was in a group one placing at a mile to Militarize so we've always been trying to get back to those conditions. It just took those couple of runs to really get the fitness improvement that we needed and get back to the right conditions. Getting him back on top of the ground today was the key.
“He's a lovely big colt so you could see why he'd struggle in those heavy conditions. He's certainly been tough.”
Owned by a large syndicate which includes Newgate Farm and China Horse Club, Bases Loaded became the 31st stakes winner for Newgate Farm’s retired Deep Field. He was sold by Rushton Park as a weanling at the Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale for $290,000 to Hunter Valley Bloodstock, and then sold again as a yearling by Tyreel Stud at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for $400,000 to Newgate Farm, China Horse Club, and Starlight.
“He's (Bases Loaded) a lovely big colt so you could see why he'd struggle in those heavy conditions. He's certainly been tough.” - Adrian Bott
A half-brother to Group 3-placed winner Shebringsit (Sebring), his unraced dam Passarelle (Not A Single Doubt) is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Silverstream (Al Maher), Group 3 winner Speedy Natalie (Al Maher) and Listed winner Calanda (Snitzel).
Snitzel adds 145th stakes winner to impressive tally
The Arrowfield Stud colours saluted early in the day at Eagle Farm when their Kris Lees-trained 4-year-old mare Willinga Beast (Snitzel) won the Listed Hinkler Handicap over 1200 metres. Ridden by Craig Williams, Willinga Beast was 0.65l in front of second placed Pereille (Fastnet Rock) with Midnight In Tokyo (Kobayashi) in third.
Arrowfield Stud purchased Willinga Beast at the recent Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $675,000 and she was having her first start for her new owners. “She's versatile and good to get a stakes win for her new connections. She won her first start and then raced at a really high level in her 3-year-old season so she's got multiple group placings which are very important for her,” said trainer Kris Lees, who has trained her for all her 19 starts.
It was the first win at stakes level for Willinga Beast, who had been dual nominated for the G2 Dane Ripper S., and she became the 145th stakes winner for her Champion Sire Snitzel.
“Arrowfield bought her with being a broodmare in mind and Kris was good enough to give me the ride today,” Williams said. “Kris was very good with his instructions. He was all about her and once she began well, also Dylan Gibbons who rides her gave me insight as well.”
Willinga Beast took her record to two wins and four placings from 19 starts with career earnings over $510,000, and had run second in the G2 Percy Sykes S. at her second career start, as well as placing in the G2 Furious S.
“She's (Willinga Beast) versatile and good to get a stakes win for her new connections. She won her first start and then raced at a really high level in her 3-year-old season so she's got multiple group placings which are very important for her.” - Craig Williams
She has come full circle as she was an Arrowfield Stud yearling graduate with the farm selling her for $625,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to Willinga Park and Australian Bloodstock.
Willinga Beast is the second foal of Time Check (USA) (Shamardal {USA}), who is a half-sister to stakes placed winner Lascars (Sepoy) and city winner Essaouira (Exceed and Excel) who is the dam of Group 1 winners Astern (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) and Alizee (Sepoy) and exciting young sire Tassort.
