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Champions Sprint
Andrew Wu
The world wants Imperatriz but does Australasia’s new sprint queen want the world? That’s the multimillion-dollar question facing her owners after the New Zealand mare claimed the final leg of Melbourne’s three major spring sprints.
Te Akau Racing were rewarded for bypassing the riches on offer in the Everest when Imperatriz made it four from four this campaign with victory in the group 1 $3 million Champions Sprint over 1200 metres.
Connections had knocked back the chance for a slice of the $13 million first prize in Sydney’s slot race, but her stud value has been enhanced by three group 1 victories while her spring earnings of $3.65 million is more than adequate recompense for staying in Melbourne.
Imperatriz ridden by Opie Bosson wins the Darley Champions Sprint.Credit: Racing Photos / Getty Images
Trainer Mark Walker and Te Akau Racing have another major call to make over the summer whether to give their superstar galloper the opportunity to emulate the great Black Caviar by sending her to Royal Ascot to take on the world’s best sprinters in either the Kings Stand Stakes (1000 metres) and/or the Platinum Jubilee Stakes (1200m).
Royal Ascot are making no secret of their desire to have Imperatriz race over their famous five-day carnival.
“She goes straight to the top of the list,” Ascot’s director of racing and public affairs Nick Smith said.
“She’s got the right profile, she’s got great consistency, she looks the type who can continue the tradition of Australian horses. This one’s particularly interesting because she’s a New Zealand horse and we’ve never had a New Zealand winner.”
All of Australia stayed up to watch Black Caviar famously win the King’s Stand in 2012, though the 1200 metres Platinum Jubilee seems better suited for Imperatriz, who has now won seven of nine at that distance. Takeover Target, Choisir and Nature Strip are among the list of Australasian sprint stars who have won at Royal Ascot.
The $1.92 million available in the Platinum Jubilee is modest compared to some of the purses on offer in autumn in Australia, but Ascot offers prestige and tradition, plus international profile for her breeding future.
“If you are strictly racing for prizemoney you’re probably thinking how am I going to get my horse to the Everest and do nothing to interfere with that,” Smith said. “Other owners consistently want to bring their horses, do something new, have pictures of their horse winning in a different country.”
Walker said he and connections would wait a few weeks before discussing Imperatriz’s 2024 program but said a trip to the UK would be considered.
Sitting outside the leader Front Page, Imperatriz had the race won shortly after entering the course proper, winning by half a length from Buenos Noches with In Secret a further three-quarters away in third.
In Secret had been beaten by a smaller margin when third in the Everest, but Walker is adamant they had made a good call by not running in the Everest.
“It was more about wanting her to get used to the surroundings at Cranbourne and also we do think she’s a little better left-handed,” Walker said. “It is hard to argue with her right-handed record and I think we did the right thing.”
Champions Mile
Damien Ractliffe
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Punters were left gobsmacked when Pride Of Jenni won her second group 1 in as many weekends, leading from start to finish to win the Champions Mile, in the same fashion she won the Empire Rose seven days earlier.
Jockey Declan Bates had won just one group 1 race heading into this year’s carnival, back in the 2019 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes on Begood Toya Mother.
Do it again: Pride Of Jenni passes the finishing post.Credit: Racing Photos / Getty Images
But he pulled off his second and third group 1 wins with bold front-running rides, on Saturday, opening up a four-length break on Alligator Blood heading into the straight, and he was never challenged.
“He said, ‘I suppose we’ll adopt the same tactics’ and I said, ‘I suppose you will’,” co-trainer Ciaron Maher said of Declan Bates.
“It is so good to watch a horse race like that.”
Mr Brightside, Alligator Blood and Fangirl all ran second to fourth, having dropped back in distance after competing in the Cox Plate a fortnight ago.
Bates, who didn’t even leave the fence on the $13 outsider, stood in the irons and took a big deep breath after crossing the line, before fist pumping the sky.
“The love for this horse, she’s proven now that it wasn’t a fluke last week and she’s a champion, I believe,” Bates said.
“Few people have said to me that I stole it last week and it is a discredit to her to say that I stole it because I think I’m happy with how I executed the tactics, but they are tactics that you can’t employ on many horses. You need a horse with a serious engine and a will to win.
“I think we are made for each other.
“I just love this mare so much. She proved it’s no fluke. She’s a champion now, especially in my eyes.”
Mr Brightside’s runner-up finish saw him finish his six-run campaign with three wins and three seconds.
A decision is still to be made on whether he potentially travels to Hong Kong next month to seek revenge for his Cox Plate defeat at the hands of Romantic Warrior.
“Twelve months [ago] he wouldn’t be able to do what he did today, so it’s really exciting to see how he comes back in the autumn, or maybe they’ll find another race for him,” jockey Craig Williams said.
“The Hayes boys have got such a good handle on this horse, he looks fabulous, he’s performing fantastic, but unfortunately the only thing we didn’t do today was win.”
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