Saturday preview: Chairman's Stakes rematch to unfold in South Australian Derby

Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud

Who’s backing up into the South Australian Derby?

The one week turnaround from the G3 SAJC Chairman’s Stakes, the traditional G1 South Australian Derby prep race, to the big day is a tight one, but it’s a leap that several South Australian and Victorian trainers are willing to take. When taking a look at the field for Saturday, 13 out of the 19 acceptors will back up from the previous weekend’s racing; incredibly, 10 of them will have come through the Chairman’s.

Chairman’s winner Athanatos (I Am Immortal) has been sent to the paddock ahead of lofty spring goals, but both placegetters - Lavalier (Microphone) and Dubai Focus (Pride Of Dubai) - will return to Morphettville to do battle in Saturday’s 2500-metre contest. Fifth-placed Goldrush Guru (American Pharoah {USA}) will join them in an attempt to nab a second Derby after winning the G1 Victorian Derby in the spring.

“He's good, he's come through it (the Chairman’s) well, we'll accept and push on to Saturday,” trainer Andrew Gluyas told media midweek. “I thought he didn't go too badly, he just couldn't quite settle and when they slackened the pace a bit, he just got flushed out.

“I think the profile for the back-up this year will really suit him. We are just really keen on an inside draw.”

Gluyas has not quite gotten his wish - the son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (USA) has drawn barrier 18.

Fillies Femminile (Dundeel {NZ}) and Cavity Bay (Cable Bay {Ire}) will also back up, but will face a mixed field at Group 1 level this weekend, having run in last week’s G1 Australasian Oaks, which was won by Benagil (Manhattan Rain). Tommy Stokes, assistant trainer to Phillip Stokes, is certain that Femminile is up to the task after running seventh last Saturday.

“She's come through that (Oaks) run in super order, and she's been eating up really well,” he told Racing.com earlier in the week. “I think she'll relish the extra 500 metres and any bit of rain will enhance her chances as well.”

Five fillies have won the Derby in the last 20 years; Coco Sun (The Autumn Sun) captured last year’s event, a week after running third in the Oaks.

Second seed Statuario (D’Argento) is one of four (after current scratching) acceptors that will not be on the back-up, having won the Listed Galilee Series Final at the beginning of April and having a tickover trial on April 22 en route to his Group 1 debut. His trainers had a different approach to readying the grey for his greatest test to date.

“This (the Derby) has been the target, so hopefully he runs to his best and he should be in the finish,” co-trainer Emma-Lee Browne said ahead of the draw earlier this week. “(The trial was) just to keep him up to the mark. We didn’t want to back him up this weekend into next weekend.”

The Brownes have yet to win a Group 1, although they got very close in the spring when Scary (NZ) (Shocking) ran second in the Victoria Derby - perhaps a clash with Goldrush Guru will go a little differently this time around.

Table: G1 South Australian Derby acceptors and their most recent results

Jenni Watch: Redemption under handicap conditions?

Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) heads to Caulfield on Saturday to contest a race whose ranking would usually be beneath her, but has been strategically chosen to boost her confidence ahead of a possible trip north for the Queensland carnival. The Listed Anniversary Vase over 1600 metres has been chosen by Ciaron Maher due to having a top weight of 61kg, meaning that the 7-year-old star mare won’t have to make like Atlas and carry the earth to get home.

Sure, it does mean the second seed Regal Zeus (Zoustar) gets to carry 55.5kg around, having a benchmark rating 20 points lower than Pride Of Jenni, but Maher has used this tactic before to great success.

G1 Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip (Fr) had similar tactics in the preparation where he won the G1 Turnball Stakes and ran third in the G1 Caulfield Cup; he kicked off with a BM100 race with a top weight of 62kg, coming home fourth by 1.1l.

Speaking to Racing.com on Friday, Maher is optimistic ahead of the mare’s raceday return, saying, “Jenni is a star, she was very good off a light prep. She ran a peak (race) and then was off two weeks, which is always tough to do, which it was. I think she's as good as ever leading into Saturday.”

Jockey Craig Newitt is enthused to get back in the mare’s saddle on Saturday; “Hopefully she turns up in the frame we think she will and we'll see something exciting.”

Tardelli putting hand up for Queensland campaign in Guineas

Kiwi trainer Stephen Marsh will have representatives on both sides of the Tasman this weekend, and he plans to be trackside to witness Roctave (NZ) (Roc De Cambes {NZ}) in the G1 South Australian Derby. The gelding will return home for a spell following Saturday’s run, but there is a chance that stablemate Tardelli (I Am Invincible), who lines up for the G2 Queensland Guineas, may stay a little longer on Australian soil.

Twice a winner in his 10 starts, Tardelli began his career in Sydney under the steerage of John O’Shea, before relocating to New Zealand, where he has blossomed in Marsh’s hands. Originally purchased as a stallion prospect - by Bruce Perry, signing the docket on behalf of Elsdon Park’s Lib Petagna, Jamieson Park, Little Avondale Stud and Greg Clarke’s Hawridge Developments - the colt has transformed as a 3-year-old, winning his first start in New Zealand and running third to Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel) in the G2 Levin Classic at his next start.

He has since picked up two more placings at stakes level, but the black-type win has so far eluded him.

“Michael McNab has gone over to ride him, he’s drawn an outside gate (13), but he has settled in really well over there,” Marsh said to Loveracing.nz on Thursday. “He breezed up well this morning, so we’re happy with him. He was very good against the older horses in the Easter (Handicap) without a whole lot of luck again.”

There is plenty of action to be had across the Queensland winter carnival if Tardelli can prove himself ready on Saturday.

“We’ll see what he does first and then make some decisions,” Marsh said. “We’re mindful he’s had a big trip, he flew to Sydney and then floated to Brisbane with no direct flights, but he does seem to have handled it well.”

A top tier performance could see the colt back up into the G2 AD Hollindale Stakes a week later, or step up to the 2000 metres for the G3 Rough Habit Plate in a fortnight. The G1 Queensland Derby at the end of May could also enter the picture.

Tardelli will have to fend off some of the eastern states’ most quality 3-year-olds over the 1600-metre trip. Top seed Shangri La Spring (Castelvecchio), last start winner of the G3 Packer Plate over 2000 metres, will drop back in distance with this run, and Wonder Boy (Cosmic Force), last start winner of the Listed Bendigo Guineas, makes a long trek from Mornington for a shot at Group victory.

Hawkesbury Guineas to launch Snitzanova’s Oaks dreams

Talented 3-year-old filly Snitzanova (Snitzel) resumes on Saturday in the G3 Hawkesbury Guineas and Ciaron Maher’s New South Wales assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord shared that the goal, if she can acquit herself this weekend, is the G1 Queensland Oaks in June.

“We will see how she goes on Saturday,” he told Racing And Sports on Thursday. “She is bred to run over a lot further, so whether we work towards the (Queensland) Oaks or something a bit shorter, we will be guided by how she goes on Saturday.”

Winner of the G2 Sandown Guineas in her first preparation before tiring in the R. Listed Magic Millions 3YO Guineas, the filly has trialled once for a smart win on the Newcastle Beaumont track mid April.

“Her trial was good and she is coming up well,” Gerard-Dubord said. “She will obviously improve on whatever she does (on Saturday), but it looks (like) a good race for her.”

Proven over the distance and, in particular, proven over it fresh, Snitzanova will meet a capacity field in one of the three Group races at Hawkesbury’s metropolitan meeting.

One of the more interesting rivals she will face is one she would have grown up in the same paddocks as; fellow Arrowfield Stud born and raised Love Poem (Snitzel), who has recently transferred into the stable of Kris Lees. The filly has placed five times at stakes level, including running second in the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas, and narrowly missed the placings in the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas at her next start. She was a $280,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale graduate from Arrowfield Stud, purchased by Bruce Perry Bloodstock on behalf of Lib Petagna.

Hello Youmzain poised to score across New Zealand

The clash of the first season sires continues with juvenile racing across four states and both islands of New Zealand on Saturday, and 11 sires with their first crop of 2-year-olds will have opportunities to boost their profile.

Hello Youmzain (Fr), currently second in the New Zealand first season sires’ premiership to Lucky Vega (Ire), has representatives in both Kiwi stakes races this weekend; Stephen Marsh sends smart maiden Mazino (NZ), who was fourth in the Listed Star Way Stakes last month, to the Listed Waikato Equine Stakes at Te Rapa for his third start, and at Riccarton, Lucy In The Sky (NZ) and Dujardin (NZ) will duke it out in the Listed Champagne Stakes.

Tony Pike has sent Lucy In The Sky south in the hopes of picking up black-type, after running a strong sixth in the G1 Sistema Stakes at just her second start.

“She flew down on Sunday and travelled well,” he told Loveracing.nz. “She was impressive first-up and very good in the Sistema, she got taken on and was savaged from the 600 to 700-metre mark by the outsider of the field, and she fought on well considering. If she can handle the track (on Saturday), we would expect her to go very close.”

The Riccarton meet has been transferred to the synthetic track due to heavy rainfall in the region.

Cambridge Stud-based shuttler Hello Youmzain - who returns at NZ$30,000 plus GST this year - is the only New Zealand-based sire in the country’s top five first season sires, and fellow Kiwi-based Circus Maximus (Ire) gets his foot in the door as number eight in the rankings.

He has a chance to change that on Saturday with two runners, both of whom are in the Waikato Equine Stakes; placegetters Towering Vision (NZ) and Engine Of War (NZ) line up for Te Akau Racing and Andrew Forsman respectively, and have drawn next to each other with barriers two and one. Windsor Park Stud have announced Circus Maximus will return for the 2025 breeding season at a fee of NZ$17,500 plus GST.

Offspring of Yulong’s Tagaloa and Coolmore Stud’s King’s Legacy will line up at Te Rapa as well, and local trainer Lance Robinson believes his promising juvenile Alottago (Tagaloa), stakes-placed at his last start, has what it takes to finish his season with a black-type victory.

“He has done well since his last start, we are really happy with him,” Robinson said. “I think the 1200 metres will really suit him.

“We have got a very high opinion of him. We will get this one over and done with, and he will have a nice spell, and hopefully we will get him ready for some nice 3-year-old races in the spring.”

Based at Newhaven Park, Cool Aza Beel (NZ) is the only first season sire with a representative in the Listed Dalrello Stakes at Eagle Farm; last start winner and Group 3-placed Cool Archie is poised to take another swing at stakes level for Chris and Corey Munce.

Current Australian leader Ole Kirk has no opportunities to add another stakes winner to his tally on Saturday, but he does have a runner in the Hawkesbury’s Clarendon Stakes, and another at the metropolitan meeting at Caulfield. Wootton Bassett’s (GB) sole juvenile runner British Gem is the only one going up against the older horses on Saturday when she debuts in the third race at Newcastle.

Table: First season sires with runners on Saturday

Coleman set for Victory Stakes return

Three weeks after a 10 per cent share in talented Pierata colt Coleman sold in an Inglis Digital online auction for $405,000, the 3-year-old is set to step out at the races for the first time for new trainer Chris Waller.

Winner of the Listed Debutant Stakes - beating electric juvenile Arabian Summer (Too Darn Hot {GB}) by 1.25l - Coleman next collected the G3 VRC Chairman’s Stakes before racking up placings in the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes and the G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes. His spring consisted of several gallant performances with only one placing, in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes, with his last start being in the G3 Blue Sapphire Stakes in November. Purchased as a yearling for $550,000, he amassed $1.32 million across 11 starts for former trainer Matt Laurie.

STBT Bloodstock were the highest bidders in the early April auction and, if two strong trial performances before his Queensland debut are any guide, Coleman may be able to repay their investment fairly quickly. His auction listing disclosed bone chip removal from one fetlock, and intimated a roadmap to the Group 1s across Queensland’s winter carnival.

“Both his trials have been exceptional,” Waller's assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth told Racing And Sports earlier in the week. “He has been really tractable. We have tinkered with his headgear a little bit, and I think that has helped him relax a little bit better. Hopefully he can be explosive.”

The Victory Stakes have proven a good launchpad for carnival stars in the past; Impending won the race in 2018, before placing in the G1 Doomben 10,000 and winning the G1 Kingsford-Smith Cup a fortnight later. If Coleman bids to prove his stallion credentials in the Doomben 10,000, he will clash with Schwarz, who will have his swan song in the race before transitioning into his stud career at Rosemont Stud.