Yearning has followed in the footsteps of her mother by winning a Group 1 race during her three-year-old season.
New Zealand-bred Rising Romance won the Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick and seven-and-a-half years later her daughter, by Snitzel, has taken out the Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on Wednesday.
Under the guidance of Damien Thornton, Yearning ($26) scored by a length from Elusive Express ($9.50) with Barb Raider ($7.50) 1-¾ lengths away in third place.
“When you buy these high-class fillies, with the big pedigree, the owners put in a lot, a lot of money,” Wayne Hawkes said.
“It’s good for those expensive horses to actually win. There’s a lot of owners that buy at the top end and a lot of the top end ones don’t actually make the grade, so it’s nice to nail a good one.
“I really want to thank the owners, though. All the owners have done a great job and John Messara would be sitting up there at Arrowfield and gone nuts, I reckon, on the couch.”
Hawkes said Yearning would press on into the spring.
Options include the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on October 30 or the Group 1 VRC Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 5.
“We just wanted to see how she’d run today,” Hawkes said.
“Her run the other day was good. She got held up and then she let rip and the truth of the matter is that when she hit the front she half got lost.
“She was on her Sydney leg the whole way whereas today she was on her Melbourne leg.
“Her mum is a Caulfield Cup runner-up, so they are decisions that you have to go home and think about, so the stock answer is we’ll go home and see how she pulls up.
“People always think ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ but the truth of the matter is that she’s done now.
“Whatever she does now is a bonus for the owners. It’s game, set and match.”
Thornton hopes he will be able to add to his Group 1 tally during the Melbourne Cup Carnival when crowds will be allowed back on course from Melbourne Cup Day.
“It’s not the same without the crowd,” Thornton said.
“There is no atmosphere, it feels like you are just at another day at the races, so it will be great to get them back on (Melbourne) Cup Day.”
