News
Caulfield Witnesses Group One Stars
The performances of outstanding mare Typhoon Tracy and unbeaten juvenile Star Witness highlighted three days of memorable Group One action over the 2010 Caulfield Festival of Racing.
Typhoon Tracy resumed her winning form from Spring on the Festival’s opening day on Saturday, 7 February with a comfortable first-up victory in the $402,000 Group One Sportingbet Orr Stakes for Caulfield trainer Peter Moody and jockey Luke Nolen. Punters sent Typhoon Tracy off at the cramped odds of $1.40 favourite in the 1,400 metre weight-for-age event and she gave her backers few concerns in defeating Heart of Dreams by almost 2 lengths.
The Festival continued a fortnight later with the milestone 40th running of the $1,015,000 Group One Arrowfield Stud Blue Diamond Stakes – Victoria’s richest and most prestigious race for two-year-olds. A high class field of 15 runners went to the post for the 1,200 metre dash, but in a stunning performance the Danny O’Brien-trained Star Witness produced a withering finishing down the centre of the track to claim victory in the final bounds.
Ridden by Nicholas Hall, Star Witness ($10) had to power home from 12th position at the 400 metre mark to maintain his unblemished record of three wins from as many starts.
The result was a triumph for race sponsors Arrowfield Stud. Star Witness is a son of Arrowfield’s promising young stallion Starcraft, whilst both runner-up Shaaheq and third-placed race favourite Beneteau are progeny of the stud’s super sire Redoute’s Choice.
Excited scenes also followed Starspangledbanner’s victory in the day’s other Group One contest – the $402,000 Sportingbet Oakleigh Plate over 1,100 metres. Soon to leave Australia to be campaigned in the UK, the reigning Caulfield Guineas hero left the scene of his finest triumph for the final time with another courageous winning effort. Ridden by Danny Nikolic for trainer Leon Cortstens, Starspangledbanner ($7) outlasted Here de Angels and Arinos in a frantic finish to the sprint feature.
The final day of the 2010 Caulfield Festival of Racing on Saturday, 27 February proved a popular afternoon for punters, with favourites winning six of the nine races on the programme.
One of these was Typhoon Tracy in the meeting’s headline event – the $504,000 Group One Rokk Ebony Futurity Stakes over 1,600 metres – the opening leg of the 2010 Asian Mile Challenge series. Starting at $1.60 favourite, Typhoon Tracy again had little difficulty in defeating Dao Dao and Sniper’s Bullet, registering her third successive Group One victory and fourth success at the elite level in a career which has now produced nine wins from 12 starts.
Typhoon Tracy’s connections now have the option of chasing lucrative bonuses by contesting any of the the remaining Asian Mile Challnge series races on the international stage in Dubai, Hong Kong and Japan in the coming months.
Although the Festival is over and the calendar has turned over to Autumn, there is still a steady supply of excellent feature racing at Caulfield to enjoy through the remaining months of the season.
