Prominent owner-breeder and Torryburn Stud supremo John Cornish looks to have a nice filly on his hands in Woodlands Stakes winner Stardom.
A former Australian Turf Club chairman who bred the likes of Hong Kong stars Hot King Prawn and Voyage Bubble, Cornish also raced Stardom’s dam, the 2017 P J Bell Stakes victor Diddums.
He was thrilled to see Stardom add her name to the illustrious Woodlands Stakes (1100m) honour roll which boasts the likes of subsequent Group 1 winner In Secret (2022) and Group 1 placegetters Lazzura (2024) and Libertini (2019).
“I think we’ve deserved it. A few drinks have gone past since we’ve had a good filly,” Cornish said.
“I thought she might have been beaten two, three times but (she put her) head down and she kept coming. That’s a good sign in a baby, isn’t it.”
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Stardom had finished third behind Saturday’s rival Akaysha and boom colt Beadman on debut at Kembla Grange last month before breaking her maiden with a dominant win over 1200m at Wagga.
Jockey Adam Hyeronimus praised the Tulloch Lodge team for being able to bring her back to 1100m on Saturday and said the filly’s natural gate speed enabled her to travel in a winning position.
“Horses that come from the stable, they’re so sharp out of the gates and it puts them in a really good position to be dominant like she was today,” Hyeronimus said.
“It was a very good training performance from Gai and Adrian because generally the horses from the stable will always progress out over further once they’ve started racing but for them to bring her back to 1100 metres in a stakes race, although she won well at Wagga, it was always going to be difficult and that goes to Gai and Adrian.”
Stardom ($3.60) hit the front at the top of the straight and kicked strongly to score by a long neck over Wollzeile ($26) with Akaysha ($2.40 fav) doing her best work late another length away third.
