Read what the jockeys made of their mounts after the Group 1 $1,000,000 Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville.
Winning Trainer: Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr (Mick Price speaking)
Been a good race for stable: “It has. The very pleasing thing is she’s a beautiful mare. We’ve had her since she was a baby. She’s one of Seamus’ (Mills) yearling buyers and look, he’s one of the main players in the stable with Heath Newton and Anthony and it’s just very, very satisfying to get a Group One for those guys, the mare has deserved it.”
“Zahra is Zahra, he just lives in the Group One world, doesn’t he? But really, really pleased for the mare and the owning group.”
Always promised plenty: “She ran in the Golden Rose, ran super, couldn’t get a run, got beat a length and a half, chipped a knee. So we gave her all the time she needed. She’s a sizeable sort of a filly at the time, and she just needed time. To Seamus’ credit, when we discuss things, he listens. He’s always been patient and they’ve reaped the benefit of all those decisions.”
Been a long time coming: “Well, we’ve got a good horse, a good rider, and a good team at home. All the staff work very hard. It’s a very good barn there at Cranbourne, so I’ve got to thank all the staff at home.”
“But she’s always been a good mare, and when she ran second in the Gold Coast to the stablemate, actually, Miss Roumbini, that didn’t go down well. But Seamus said, what about the Group One? He’s always chasing the best that he can do for those broodmares and all his fillies that he buys. So I said, mate, we got the right horse to do it. It was a long-range plan, she’s been at Cranbourne for a long time, and we just gradually brought her up. So, very pleasing.”
Goodwood: “Definitely go. So he’ll (Reserve Bank) stay here with Chris Beig. She’ll (Charm Stone) come back to Cranbourne and then she’ll come back across. So 54 and a half (kilograms) for the colt and you can ride a kilo over. So I’ll speak to Blake Shin about that one and I’m not sure what Zahra’s doing but anyway, we’ll do what we can.”
Winning Jockey: Mark Zahra
Ride in Goodwood?: “I might have already locked into one, but we can see. I think Giga Kick’s coming that day. Anyway, we’ll celebrate about this one first. We’ll worry about what’s happening in two weeks.”
Group One double: “It’s special. A bit of luck this time last year, a bit more luck this year, but nice to get a couple of good rides for people I ride for, and the races have just worked out, everything went in my favour today.”
Training effort: “To have that time off, she looked like she’d be really good early days. I think I rode her about $1.60 in a Blue Diamond preview or something, and she went no good. Had the setbacks, get her back, and get her for a Group one. Now it’s all right when you’re three. When you get older, you take the older horses on, and she’s done that today and won at the highest level.”
“I drew wide. I just said I’m going to leave her alone, get her a nice rhythm, and I managed to get the back of Commemorative. I didn’t travel that well, actually. I sort of had to give her a little click up to tack up, and she did. She got to the back of them, the further the race went, the more with confidence she grew. I was able to save the best for the finish.”
“It was a busy enough finish, but I thought I won pretty convincingly in the end.”
Beaten Jockeys:
Mitchell Aitken (Asfoora): “Drew awkward, raced flat.”
Thomas Stockdale (Stretan Angel): “She burrowed her head down as soon as the gates opened. Our chances were gone after that.”
Lachlan Neindorf (Climbing Star): “Nothing wrong with her effort, she just got hampered a lot quite early in the first couple furlongs of the race and it was game over from there, but she can bounce back.”
Ben Allen (Estriella): “She was okay. She relaxed well, a little bit too relaxed. I think maybe some head gear would help her.”
Zac Spain (See You In Heaven): “Just struggled to travel in the opening stages of the race but I thought she wasn’t too bad through the line.”
Ethan Brown (A Little Deep): “Career best run. That’ll be good for her confidence, she’s certainly improved this prep.”
Blake Shinn (Commemorative): “Had a nice run, presented to win, first two were better but she was great.”
Jake Toeroek (Aviatress): “Disappointing. Only jumped fairly, never really travelled, was never in her comfort zone the whole way, so very disappointing.”
Daniel Stackhouse (Roll On High): “She ran super. Nice, pleasing run for the owners.”
Kayla Crowther (Prairie Flower): “Rapt with her, obviously followed the winner the whole way, she was superb.”
Jamie Mott (Austmarr): “Yeah, the plan was to bowl along as she likes to do. She didn’t step the greatest, copped a check off Asfoora shortly after that, it took her a bit to build momentum after that but she ran as good as she could considering.”
Jamie Melham (Ameena): “Fantastic run, we just had no option other than to go back to the inside, the fence is obviously a bit rougher than the outside but a great run.”
Jordan Childs (She’s Got Pizzazz): “Had a nice run. She was probably just a bit close to her top the whole way and might be looking for a bit further.”