Zardozi steals the show in VRC Oaks romp
Blue-blooded Godolphin filly showcases class in Flemington feature as James Cummings adds to long line of family success
James Cummings added another VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) success to his family’s honour roll when Godolphin filly Zardozi (Kingman) produced a resounding victory in yesterday’s Group 1 feature at Flemington.
The Cummings’ family boasts a rich history in the Flemington Classic for three-year-old fillies, with Jim Cummings [James’ great grandfather] first to land the prize in 1928 with Opera Queen (Anton King), while James’ grandfather, the legendary Bart Cummings, secured nine during his illustrious training career.
Yesterday’s win was the third time in as many years the coveted prize has gone the way of a Cummings, with James having secured his maiden victory in the race courtesy of Willowy’s (Kermadec) win in 2021, while his father, Anthony Cummings, added to the family’s collection when She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) won last year’s renewal. Yesterday’s smooth victory for Zardozi under James McDonald puts James Cummings a quarter of the way to emulating his Hall Of Fame grandfather.
“It’s just a real privilege to be on the big stage with beautifully bred horses like this,” said Cummings, who has been head trainer of Godolphin’s Australian string since May 2017.
“She’s a real reflection of his honour, Sheikh Mohammed’s vision to have an international pedigree here in a VRC Oaks. For only a slender filly, she packed a punch at the end of a mile and a half, as we had full confidence in her to do.
“He’s [McDonald] absolutely nailed it. To win the Derby and the Oaks in the same Cup carnival is a great credit to James. He showed great nous early, got himself in a perfect position, and settled down eighth in his own space. I love that, and she let go like a weapon, that’s absolutely gold for her pedigree.”
With a win in the Edward Manifold Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) and second in the Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) on in her previous two outings, with the latter coming just five days before the yesterday’s contest, Zardozi was sent off a $2.70 favourite for the Group 1.
Appreciating the step up from 2000 metres, the daughter of Kingman (Invincible Spirit) was travelling strongly entering the final 300 metres of contest and quickened away from her 11 rivals in stylish fashion, eventually coming home an eased-down two and a quarter lengths winner over Aethelflaed (Saxon Warrior), with a further four lengths back to the third-placed Basilinna (Staphanos).
McDonald was completing a VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and Oaks double, following Saturday’s win in the former aboard Riff Rocket (American Pharoah), and was quick to pay tribute to Cummings after the race.
“Derbies and Oaks, there’s something special about them,” McDonald said. “I’ve never won a VRC Oaks and it’s a test of training ability, horse power and obviously you’ve got to execute pretty well because they’re immature still.
“My trainer’s a freak. He just set this horse for this race, and it’s paid off. She had to do it, she’s a star filly, executed beautifully, bang, crash, whatever you want.”
“She’s got a very stout pedigree and it takes her a long way in these types of races. She was probably the best staying filly in that race and even if that didn’t happen, we would have made our own luck.”
Zardozi added her name to a roll of honour which includes many high-class fillies, including Samantha Miss (Redoute’s Choice), Miss Finland (Redoute’s Choice), Rose Of Kingston (Claude) and even further back to Light Fingers (Le Filou) and Evening Peal (Delville Wood), with the latter pair being the only Oaks winners to land the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) the following year.
The filly made her seasonal debut with a 14th-placed finish in the Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Randwick on September 16, before running seventh in a handicap over 1400 metres at Sandown-Hillside on October 1, performances which nearly led to Cummings sending the Zardozi for a spell.
“It is a great exercise in patience and to have a belief in your horse,” Cummings said. “She had one or two hooves in the spelling paddock after those couple of [unplaced] runs. But we had great faith that she was going to be better than that, and she was just begging for me to step her up in distance.
“We didn’t quite lose the faith and persevered. We race our horses and make decisions, and we elected to back her up this week.
“We would have had the raging favourite in the Victoria Derby, but we elected not to back Tom Kitten up. You live and die by your decisions, and she’ll go for a spell now.”
Zardozi (3 f ex Chanderi by Dubawi) is the first foal of the Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) mare Chanderi, herself a 1,300,000gns purchase for Godolphin from the Highclere Stud draft at the 2017 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and she never made it to the track.
Chanderi is a daughter of the Dalakhani (Darshaan) mare Silk Sari, who won the Park Hill Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 6.5f) at Doncaster and was runner-up in the British Champion Fillies & Mares Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 4f) at Ascot.
Chanderi has a two-year-old colt by Lonhro (Octagonal) named Adinath and a yearling colt by Exceed and Excel (Danehill). She was covered by Palace Pier, a son of Kingman, late last spring.
“She is out of a mare that underperformed, but she is a granddaughter of a very talented Dalakani mare,” Cummings added.
“Those bloodlines came to the fore, and it is a good recipe [to] find some good European staying blood and send them to a local trainer in Australia, and it is amazing how that recipe can be.
“We can enjoy the VRC Oaks win today. It goes on her pedigree page, and that is absolute gold for her. By Kingman, incredible value, and that is a big result for the farm and my training team had plenty of belief in her.”
Meanwhile, Zardozi’s win in yesterday’s feature made her the tenth Group 1 winner, and second in Australia, for Juddmonte Farms stallion Kingman, who will stand at Banstead Manor Stud for an unaltered fee of £125,000 (approx. AU$240,110) in 2024.
Godolphin Australia managing director Vin Cox, who is set to leave the operation in the coming weeks, said using European-based stallions on southern hemisphere time is something the operation is doing more regularly.
“It’s something we’re doing more and more of now. We’ve got a couple of mares going to Kingman this year and others going to Frankel and Dubawi. When you start these things, you don’t think you’re going to end up winning a VRC Oaks,” said Cox.
“This is well beyond our wildest dreams. Zardozi is now very valuable and the same is now true of her mother, who is still quite young. It’s a wonderful result for Godolphin Australia.”
Alabama Express off the mark with Karavas’ Ottawa Stakes win
Yulong’s first-season sire Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) was provided with his first stakes winner yesterday when his daughter Karavas produced a taking performance to land the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) at Flemington.
Having been the Group 1-winning stallion’s first winner when scoring on debut last month, Karavas made it a perfect two wins from as many starts in yesterday’s Group 3 event, adding her name to an honour roll that includes the likes of last year’s scorer Charm Stone (I Am Invincible), subsequent Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) heroine Oakleigh Girl (Snitzel) and Group 1 winners True Jewels (Brief Truce) and Lady Jakeo (Last Tycoon).
Ridden by Jake Toeroek, for South Australian-based trainers Richard and Chantelle Jolly, Karavas lengthened in impressive style throughout the final 200 metres and won by a length going away from $1.1 million yearling purchase Eneeza (Exceed And Excel), while Arabian Summer (Too Darn Hot) another length back in third.
Richard Jolly had See You In Heaven (Divine Prophet) land last year’s Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m), which was held at Caulfield, and he admitted although different to that filly, he is equally as excited about Karavas’ future.
“It means a lot with these two-year-olds”, he said. “Once they’ve had a start, you see many of them improve after that run (and) she won at Murray Bridge.”
“The knockers, or people out there, disregard our form a little bit and good on them because she started at good odds ($9).
“This girl is probably a bit more precocious [than See You In Heaven]. In saying that, See You In Heaven went on to race well as a two-year-old, but she’s got out to a trip now where I feel this filly is going to be a sprinting type.
“We can put her away now and aim her at some nice races in the autumn.”
For Toeroek, it was the sixth Group winner of his career, with his strike-rate for the Jolly’s sitting at over a remarkable 20 per cent with 164 winners from 804 rides.
“She improved a lot. Especially the progression from her first start to her second start. The gallop the other day was incredible,” the jockey said.
“She went out in the middle of the grass with nothing in sight. She didn’t wander, she was pretty confident coming up the straight today and a massive thanks to owner Neville for keeping me on her back. A big thrill.
“Beautiful… lovely filly, she’s got a great attitude, she showed ’em what we got.”
Raced by Neville Morgan, Karavas (2 f ex All Of Me by Pierro) was a $260,000 purchase for her trainers from the Yulong draft at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale Showcase Session earlier this year.
Jolly and Morgan have enjoyed great success over the years, with Morgan having provided Jolly with his first Group 1 winner, Kushadasi (Choisir), along with fellow Group winners Kemalpasa (Magnus) and Karacatis (Hussonet), and Jolly was quick to credit the prominent owner.
“She was a really athletic filly, well-muscled and always looked like she’d go early,” Jolly said.
“We paid a bit of money, I don’t usually spend that much, to be honest, but I had the backing of Neville Morgan.”
Karavas is the first winner out of the winning Pierro (Lonhro) mare All Of Me, herself a half-sister to Group winners Star of Giselle (Reset) and Solicit (Street Cry) from the stakes winner Princesa (Danehill), a daughter of Group 1 winner Kapchat (Centaine). Star of Giselle herself has produced Group 2 scorer Starelle (More Than Ready) and stakes-placed filly Star Waltz (Snitzel).
Yulong secured All Of Me for $260,000 from David Moodie’s Hesket Bloodstock draft at the 2020 Inglis Chairman’s Sale and she was offered in foal to Dundeel (High Chaparral). The mare has a yearling colt by Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) and is due to foal again to him this spring.
Along with Karavas, Alabama Express is the sire of Kirkham Plate (1000m) winner Shangri La Express. The son of Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) is standing his fourth season at stud for a fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
Improving filly Mumbai Muse scores in Red Roses
Having cheered home Riff Rocket (American Pharoah) to win the VRC Derby on Saturday, Woppitt Bloodstock and partners had another memorable afternoon at the spring carnival when the Michael Freedman-trained Mumbai Muse (Zoustar) landed yesterday’s Red Roses Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Flemington.
The daughter of Widden Stud’s flagship stallion Zoustar (Northern Meteor) broke her maiden at the sixth attempt when scoring in last month’s Brian Crowley Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Randwick and improved once again to win yesterday’s 1100-metre sprint.
Ridden by Tommy Berry, Mumbai Muse, who was sent off a $7.50 chance, passed all but one of her 15 rivals inside the final 250 metres to record a quite remarkable three-quarter length victory over $6.50 favourite Saltaire (Star Turn), with a further neck back to Appin Girl (Capitalist) in third place.
“It was better but she had a genuine tempo today and she’s had a bit of a freshen up in between her last start before the Brian Crowley where she got a bit keen,” Berry said.
“Today she got into a beautiful rhythm and Michael, I reckon he would have had his hands around my neck halfway down the straight with what was I doing that far back but I just got her into a lovely rhythm.
“I knew she was the best horse in the race and I had to ride her like that. She showed that explosive turn-of-foot and I think the win the other day gave her a bit of confidence and she was too good on the day.”
Bred by Morning Rise Stud’s Robert McClure, Mumbai Muse was a $525,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase from the Coolmore draft for Freedman and Julian Blaxland Bloodstock and she now runs for Woppitt Bloodstock and partners, one of them being McClure.
Yesterday’s win takes Mumbai Muse’s career record to two wins and two placings from seven starts, with prize-money topping $380,000, and Freedman admitted to being concerned with how far back the filly was in the race.
“It was terrific. I was a little concerned mid-race how far back Tommy was,” Freedman said.
“Normally at home she’s been up on the speed even with cover but really trucking and she just seemed to, I think, relax beautifully up there today.
“When she got to the outside I could see that she was going to feature in it somehow. I wasn’t quite sure whether she was going to get up.
“She’s had a terrific preparation. She’s mixed it with the best fillies in Sydney at her two starts this preparation. She beat the colts in the Brian Crowley and she won a really nice race today.
“She’ll go to the paddock for a bit of a break now. We’ll have a think about what we target with her. I think essentially she’s a sprinting type filly so we’ll have a look at what is coming up.
“It might be worth bringing her back for something up the straight.”
Mumbai Muse (3 f ex Mumbai Rock by Fastnet Rock) is the second stakes winner out of the winning Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Mumbai Rock, herself a daughter of US Grade 1 winner Mani Bhavan (Storm Boot).
Mumbai Rock herself was a $1.55 million Inglis Easter yearling purchase for James Bester Bloodstock out of Kia Ora Stud in 2013.
Morning Rise Stud sold a brother to Mumbai Muse at Inglis Premier this year for $250,000 to China Horse Club, Newgate Farm, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy Racing. He has been named Bengal and is in training with Chris Waller.
Mumbai Rock has a yearling filly by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) and has foaled this spring producing a colt by Home Affairs (I Am Invincible). Standing at Widden for a career high-fee of $220,000 (inc GST), it was announced yesterday Zoustar will not shuttle to Tweenhills Stud in 2024.
Being out of a daughter of Fastnet Rock, Mumbai Muse is one 34 winners from 43 runners bred on the Zoustar / Fastnet Rock cross and she is among four stakes winners for the nick, which is headed by Group 1 winner Zougotcha and fires at stakes winners to runners strike rate of nine per cent.