Highly touted import makes emphatic Australian debut

Highly touted import Sir Delius made an emphatic Australian debut at Doomben on Saturday, launching a powerful late charge to reel in Floating and claim the Group 3 JRA Chairman’s Quality in style.

Coming into the country with strong European credentials—including a last-start eighth in the Group 1 Arc—Sir Delius was heavily supported, jumping as the wagering companies $1.70 favourite on debut for trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Despite being held up at a crucial stage and giving Floating ($7) a healthy lead in the straight, Sir Delius showed his class and acceleration under Tim Clark to surge home late and score impressively.

“He’s a real quality individual. He’d shown that previously and you could see the quality in him in the yard today,” Bott said.

“It was great to see him put it all together and he’s only going to improve from here off the back of that experience. He’s still well short of his best distance, and you saw how strong he was through the line.

“I thought he showed a nice turn of foot and good acceleration, so it’s only up from here.”

With the promising first-up effort now on the board, Bott confirmed that the son of Frankel is being trained with spring targets in mind—most notably the Melbourne Cup 2025.

“He’s bred to get over much further and his form in Europe suggests that as well. He was always purchased as a Melbourne Cup prospect,” he said.

“He’s got that quality about him, so everything we do in this preparation will be geared towards that.

No firm plans are set for another run this campaign, but Bott noted that the 2200-metre G1 Q22 could be the logical next step if he returns again this prep.

“No firm commitments about another run this prep, but if we did a race like the Q22 looks suitable.”