Here is one for the notebook.
The lightly raced three-year-old Western Miss made it two wins … in succession … from only four starts when she won over 1700m at Belmont on Wednesday.
The son of Ghaiyyath had finished third and then second in her first two starts (over 1200m and 1300m) in a progressive campaign which took her to a Maiden win in the third start when stepping up to the 1400m trip where she saluted as the $1.20 race favourite with online betting sites.
Another increase in distance to 1700m and a jump to Class 3 company proved to be little obstacle for the Michael Grantham trained runner who again won in the kind of comfortable fashion befitting of a $1.90 favourite after leading virtually all of the way and never letting anyone else into the race in the home straight under an ultra-confident ride by Willie Pike.
🔥 Western Miss (#Ghaiyyath) made every post a winner, leading throughout for a dominant two-length victory over 1,700m at Belmont. pic.twitter.com/42f3Og96An
— Darley in Australia (@DarleyAus) July 8, 2026
In these two victories Western Miss has saluted by a combined total of 5.78 lengths.
Western Miss is clearly in the process of building a reputation of her own … any horse that posts back-to-back wins in such a dominant fashion is worth a second glance … and a look back at her dam-line only appears to further enhance her exciting prospects.
Western Miss is out of Western Pride who, in turn, is out of Western Jewel, who produced the Iffraaj gelding Western Empire, a fourteen-time winner still making merry as an eight-year-old.
Western Empire is currently on a three race winning streak … having won the Belmont Sprint, the Hyperion and the Strickland in a row (all Group 3 races) in recent times.
Western Empire also has, amongst others, a Group 1 Railway Stakes win and a Group 2 WATC Derby win behind his name.
That’s a hard family act to follow for Western Miss, but she has certainly started out well enough … Western Empire only shed his Maiden ticket at his fifth attempt … to suggest that the her owners, Peters Investments, can possibly look forward to better things to come.
“Yeah, it was more her idea than mine to lead,” admitted Pike. “She has her ideas and we just try to manage them.
“I can’t argue with her, You learn to pick your battles, I guess. Today was … what will be, will be.
“I just think over further she will be more dominant,” was Pike’s assessment. “She has got a good staying pedigree. You know, the Bob Peters runners … you further they go, the stronger they get.”
