Ole Dancer soars to Guineas victory
Vinery Stud’s budding star sire Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) has the elite title to go with his impressive list of early stud achievements after Ole Dancer’s gritty victory in a thrilling Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Caulfield.
Last season’s champion first-season sire – and as of Saturday the new leader on the sophomore chart – Ole Kirk now has a Group 1 winner among his five black type victors from just 48 runners, at 10.42 per cent.
Bred by Neil Werrett, and bought by Moody Racing from the draft of North for $350,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Ole Dancer now has three wins from five starts and the huge boost in value that comes with a top–tier success.
Jumping from gate five of 12 under Blake Shinn, and backed in to start at $5, the filly turned in the toughest of displays to win the main event.
While the first three at the 1200-metre mark ended up being the first three home, the Guineas provided a captivating spectacle.
Red hot $1.90 favourite Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice), chasing a fourth straight win after taking Randwick’s Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), went to the front for the first time in her career under new rider Mark Zahra. Shinn was content to sit off her rump, while $8 shot Getta Good Feeling (So You Think) travelled third on the fence.
Apocalyptic was afforded two moderate mid-12 second sectionals from the 1200 metres to the 800 metres before Zahra increased the tempo. Ole Dancer went right with her, and the pair settled in for an engrossing, tooth-and-nail duel over the last 600 metres.
Ole Dancer issued her challenge on straightening, and the renowned Moody white noseband edged closer to the lead.
Apocalyptic, to her credit, fought back valiantly as the pair charged down the straight locked together under desperate riding.
But while Michael Freedman’s Sydney filly performed admirably, it was Ole Dancer who eventually pushed out to a 0.35 length win, with Getta Good Feeling 0.75 lengths further back in third.
For Moody, who now trains with Katherine Coleman, his 64th Group 1 win harkened back to some glory days. Werrett has stayed in Ole Dancer’s ownership along with Col Madden, his fellow former co-owner of Moody’s phenomenon Black Caviar (Bel Esprit).
Ole Dancer’s ownership group is rounded out by Werrett’s long-time associate Max Whitby.
“She’s a lovely filly,” Moody said of Ole Dancer, who went in off a fifth at Moonee Valley and a 0.06 length second in the Thousand Guineas Prelude (Gr 2, 1400m).
“We knew we were in for a very light spring because we’d lost most of our big guns, and this filly – we weren’t disappointed in her last two runs, barriers had just brought around her demise.
“But, great respect for the Sydney filly. She just rose to the occasion and out toughed her. The other one might have had one too many, and maybe we had one not enough too, because I thought it was going to out tough us halfway down the straight.
“But she’s a good quality filly, and thanks to Neil Werrett, what a day for him. He owns the stallion, he owns the mare, and he owns the racehorse with his great friends and family, Max Whitby and the Madden family.”
“And obviously, a big part of the Black Caviar connection there as well, so it’s all so special.”
Moody added: “We were probably all a little surprised the favourite took it up, but I was very happy when Blake was breathing down his throat because we didn’t want him getting away on us.”
Coleman, celebrating her fourth Group 1 in the Moody partnership, said Ole Dancer had been “terrific” in her first run beyond 1400 metres.
“She was a lot closer today and I just wondered whether that was going to suit us or not,” she said.
“And Apocalyptic, she’s obviously had the run at a mile and we thought, Is she going to out tough us here?
“But our filly was just super and I’m so, so proud of her and our whole team at home.
“I’m incredibly lucky to have him [Moody] as a mentor and geez, this is special.”
Shinn paid tribute to Ole Dancer – and her training team.
“Full credit to the filly. Big thrill to win this race today,” he said.
“This has been the grand final all prep and it’s just great that when a plan comes off and you can win a Group 1.
“It was an exciting race, a thrilling race for me to even ride in. Peter and Kat, you can just trust their horse’s fitness and when the pressure came on, she came to the fore. It was a great effort.”
Werrett also bred Ole Dancer’s dam Dancers (Husson) and second dam Viennese Lass (Redoute’s Choice).
Dancers scored two wins, at Hawkesbury, among 11 starts, while Viennese Lass was an unraced sister to Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) hero Rediener.
Ole Dancer’s fourth dam was Snippets’ Lass (Snippets), the dual Listed-winning mother of the great four-time champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), and of stakes-winning, ill-fated sire Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock).
All three subsequent efforts to breed a full sibling to Ole Dancer have failed. Dancers slipped to Ole Kirk in 2022, her filly foal died after birth in 2023, and she missed to the stallion last year.
Ole Kirk is currently covering his fifth book at Vinery for $99,000, up from $55,000.