McDonald and Waller Dominate in Sydney and Dom Sutton's First Group 1 Win in Melbourne.

Both Chris Waller and James McDonald are cleaning up Gr.1’s for their respective trades at record pace and on Saturday they picked up both the elite level contests on the Randwick card.

Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock), in the end her narrow victory could be put down to McDonald’s tactical nous and his belief in the horse underneath him. Aware that main rival Fangirl (Sebring) is very one dimensional and has to be waited with, McDonald ensured Via Sistina would be ahead of her rival in running, settling midfield and making her chase. That head start proved crucial as neither mare exploded to the line, both grinding it out and taking some time to pass stablemate Lindermann (Lonhro). As could be expected from a horse more adept at around 2000 metres Via Sistina was strong at the end, a neck the final margin with every indication Fangirl wouldn’t have gotten any closer had the contest gone on.

When a horse wins any race, let alone the W S Cox Plate, by eight lengths, the expectation is they will continue to sweep all before them. Such domination is nigh on impossible to repeat particularly when the horse races at a distance short of its best. Here was an excellent case of that in point, Via Sistina having the class to win over a mile when her Autumn grand final will be the 2000 metre Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes next month.

The result of a mating leveraging the highly successful Fastnet Rock – Galileo cross, Via Sistina was bred by Melba and Colin Bryce of Laundry Cottage Stud in Hertfordshire in England, but born in Ireland. She sold as a yearling out of the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale in 2019 for just 5000 guineas and by the next time she saw an auction ring her value had soared to 2.7 million guineas, on that occasion Yulong buying her out of the 2023 Tattersalls December Mares Sale before sending her to Australia. Saturday was her fifth Gr.1 win in the Southern Hemisphere to go with her Pretty Polly Stakes success at The Curragh when trained by George Boughey.

Forty minutes earlier McDonald was seen at his best although he had to get somewhat more vigorous aboard the long odds-on favourite Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) as she just got the better of last year’s Golden Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) in the Gr.1 Surround Stakes. Having settled further forward than his mount has become accustomed to, McDonald presented Lady Shenandoah at the top of the straight and the filly looked set for a comfortable victory. However, Lady Of Camelot wasn’t taking defeat lying down and she rallied under Tim Clark, the favourite only getting the better of her in the final strides to score by a half head. That pair had two and a half lengths on third placed Lazzura (Snitzel).

This was a second Gr.1 success for Lady Shenandoah from just six career starts, the Gr.2 Light Fingers Stakes squeezed between Saturdays’ win and her Gr.1 Flight Stakes success. Weight depending, a start in the Gr.1 Coolmore Classic beckons on Saturday week.

Bought by Hermitage Thoroughbreds out of the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale for $525,000, Lady Shenandoah is a three-quarter sister to Stronger (Not A Single Doubt) who won the Gr.3 Ken Russell Classic at two before heading to Hong Kong where he won the Gr.1 Centenary Sprint Cup. Returned to Australia, Stronger stands at Aquis Farm in Queensland.

On a quality card the feature race at Flemington was the Gr.1 Australian Guineas which fell to the Super Seth gelding Feroce. Placed into a beautiful trailing position throughout by Billy Egan, Feroce came off the back of the Kiwi visitor Savaglee (Savabeel) when that colt looked to be travelling the better of the pair. But with Egan working overtime in the saddle Feroce was very strong late, powering clear in the shadows of the post to score by three quarters of a length with the Gr.1 Victoria Derby winner Goldrush Guru (American Pharoah) solid late running into third place.

Feroce’s success erased some of the pain young trainer Dom Sutton felt after his narrow defeat to Private Life (Written Tycoon) in the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas in the Spring. This was a maiden Gr.1 win for Sutton and a second for Egan who won the 2023 South Australian Derby on Dunkel (Dundeel).

Feroce was bought out of the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale for NZ$160,000, his unraced dam Corinthia a daughter of O’Reilly and dam of the Listed winner and Gr.2 placed mare in New Zealand in Siracusa (Sebring). A half-sister to the Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas winner De Beers (Quest For Fame) Corinthia is a granddaughter of the top dual Gr.1 winner Tristalove (Sir Tristram) from the wonderful Eight Carat (Pieces Of Eight) family.

In other news on the day the first two home in the RL Inglis Millennium booked their passage straight through to the Gr.1 Golden Slipper when Rivellino (Too Darn Hot) won the Gr.2 Skyline Stakes and Within The Law (Lucky Vega) the Gr.2 Sweet Embrace Stakes at Randwick.