It wouldn’t be a Sydney autumn without Gai Waterhouse training a Group One winner.
But she cut it fine, waiting until Saturday and the All Aged Stakes to put her name on the honour roll with English in the final Group One race of the carnival at Randwick.
English
Runner-up to stablemate Vancouver in the 2015 Golden Slipper, English missed the spring but showed her readiness for a big win with her third in the TJ Smith Stakes behind the world’s highest-ranked sprinter Chautauqua.
Getting back in the eight-horse field under Sam Clipperton, English ($6) sustained a long run to beat Black Heart Bart ($6) by a half neck.
Kermadec ($5) was another half-length third with his Chris Waller-trained stablemate and race favourite Press Statement ($3.10) fifth after being posted three-wide for most of the 1400m of Saturday’s race.
“She is top class. She is the best three-year-old filly in Australia,” Waterhouse said.
“To take on the older horses and beat them shows that.
“It was a good ride by Sam. He had her where she needed to be.”
And while the Sydney carnival has ended, Waterhouse has more Group One ambitions for English.
“She will go to Brisbane,” she said.
“There’s the BTC Cup, the 10,000, the Stradbroke – all of those races.
“I didn’t have her in the spring. A lot of two-year-olds don’t come up after the autumn.
“They are still growing and horses like Pierro and Ha Ha are the exception.
“But now she’s grown and matured and it’s showing. She still gets a bit agitated before the race but once she’s in the race, she’s a professional.”
Clipperton claimed his first Group One win last month, riding Peeping for his former master Ron Quinton.
Both Peeping and English are raced by members of the Kelly family who began the famous Newhaven Park stud.
“It’s great to ride a Group One winner for Gai,” CLipperton said.
“And to get two this autumn for different branches of the same family is great.
“I got the call from Gai about two weeks ago and it’s a big thrill.
“English is easy to ride. It’s just before the race she has a few antics. But what a horse.
“She got into a nice rhythm and was strong at the end.”
Kerrin McEvoy described Black Heart Bart as the unlucky loser in the race while Blake Shinn who rode Malaguerra who finished sixth after leading early, admitted he had made a mistake.
“Not one of my best,” Shinn said.
“I made a decision to hand up due to the fact I didn’t think I had the horse to keep vying for the lead and in hindsight it was the wrong move.”
