Bridal Waltz caps breakout prep with Bletchingly win
Progressive filly Bridal Waltz (Snitzel) enhanced her growing reputation at Caulfield on Saturday, capping a breakout winter campaign with a gutsy victory in the $200,000 Bletchingly Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m).
The well-bred daughter of the late Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) was sent out a $4.60 equal favourite after her last-start Creswick Stakes (Listed, 1200m) heroics at Flemington on Finals Day, when she downed hot favourite She’s An Artist (Trapeze Artist) to claim her first stakes win.
She duly registered her first Group win at Caulfield on Saturday under an astute on-pace ride by Ben Melham, who controlled the tempo before winding up off the home turn to grab last year’s Bletchingly winner Recommendation (Shalaa) 150 metres from home.
While Kin (Impending) charged late after enduring a luckless run in transit, the line came in time for Bridal Waltz to stroll in with 0.4 lengths in hand. Yellow Sam (Ready For Victory) finished a further 0.7 lengths away in third.
The win continued a steep upward trajectory for the three-year-old, who has now won five of her 12 starts and given co-trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman reason to consider raising the bar again.
“Now she’s made herself a valuable little girl – she’s a multiple stakes winner, stakes-placed – and it’s been well-deserved,” Moody said.
“I’ve thought for her last couple of runs she probably goes for a spell, but we’ll probably take her home and rinse and repeat; give her a week down the beach, reassess and have a look.
“It’d be nice to lift the bar a little. Do we find a mares’ Group 2 or something like now we’re a Group 3 winner, or do we have a few weeks off and come back at Flemington in November and chase a little stakes race there away from the A-graders?
“But, you never know, she might become an A-grader one day the way she’s going.”
The victory made Bridal Waltz only the second filly since 2000 to win the Bletchingly Stakes, joining Moody’s 2011 winner Mid Summer Music (Oamaru Force).
Winning jockey Ben Melham said: “Initially I thought he [Recommendation] was going to go a little bit slower than I would have liked, so I stayed out there and just forced him to come up inside me and go the tempo I wanted to go.”
“It worked out well for us. He got going before the corner, but I had a little weight turnaround on him and she was too good.”
Bridal Waltz is raced by the Pope family, who bred the filly out of their prolific mare Charleston Dancer (Lonhro).
The daughter of Lonhro (Octagonal) has produced Bridal Waltz and fellow Group 3 scorer She Dances (Street Boss) from her first two foals. An unraced sister to the former named Eyes Of Blue is in training with Moody and Coleman, while a sister to She Dances was born in 2023.
The mare is currently in foal to Anamoe (Street Boss) and will likely visit him again this year.
Saturday’s Bletchingly Stakes also served as a farewell feature for outgoing Godolphin Australia head trainer James Cummings, who came agonisingly close to bowing out with a win as with Kin flashing home under Craig Williams.
Williams, locked in a premiership tussle with Blake Shinn, had to settle for a second runner-up finish on the day after Bossy Benita (So You Think) had come up short over 1200 metres earlier on the card.
He did notch a victory aboard Stylish Secret (Sweet Orange) in the 2400-metre 3YO handicap, but still trails Shinn by seven with one metro meeting remaining.
Ole Dancer remains perfect at Caulfield
Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman made it a Saturday to savour at Caulfield with another filly full of promise, Ole Dancer (Ole Kirk), delivering her second win from as many starts earlier on the card.
The daughter of champion first-season sire elect Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) made her winning debut in the Magic Millions SA 2YO Classic (1100m) at Murray Bridge back in March, and had two winning Pakenham jump-outs behind her going into Saturday’s $150,000 1200-metre handicap for two-year-olds.
She produced another stylish and professional performance under Blake Shinn, tracking the leader Cannyworth (Written Tycoon) throughout before angling off heels and asserting late for a length win over Thanks Gorgeous (Peltzer), with Shystar (Cosmic Force) just 0.2 lengths adrift in third.
Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner Cherish Me (Brazen Beau) never featured and beat only two home.
Ole Dancer’s ability to handle the metropolitan assignment fresh from a break fuelled Moody’s optimism ahead of a spring campaign which could include Group 1 targets.
“I think she’s a lovely filly and I think she’s got the ability to be running in spring races but whether she has the maturity will probably be the question mark,” Moody said post-race.
“If she got to a race like the Thousand Guineas she’d probably get there on one run. She’s that type of filly, she won’t need a lot of racing due to lack of maturity.
“So, she’s still got a lot of growth ahead of her, but you’re only a three-year-old filly in the spring once.”
Shinn, who tightened his grip on the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership with the win, was impressed by the filly’s attitude.
“It was instinctive from her point of view and very impressive,” the winning rider said.
“She took the gap, was brave doing so, and then knuckled down well. She’s still young, but she’s got good ringcraft and a bright future ahead of her.”
Bred by co-owner Neil Werrett and a $350,000 purchase for Moody at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Ole Dancer is the third winner from three to race out of Husson (Hussonet) mare Dancers, who is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Viennese Star (I Am Invincible).
That pair are in turn out of Viennese Lass (Redoute’s Choice), herself a sister to 2023 Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Rediener.
Vinery Stud’s Ole Kirk will stand the upcoming season for an increased fee of $99,000 (inc GST), up from $55,000 last year.