Dittman’s double day of Group glory at Doomben
Wins on Another Dollar and Sure Knee for Waller a career high for The Enforcer’s son as the jockey-trainer partnership flourishes
It had been four years since rider Luke Dittman had scored the only Group win of his career, but yesterday he trebled his haul in one afternoon by taking both the Premiers Cup (Gr 3, 2200m) on Another Dollar (Ocean Park) and the Sapphire Stakes (Gr 3, 1630m) on Sure Knee (Snitzel), both for trainer Chris Waller.
Dittman, the 28-year-old son of Hall of Fame rider Mick, had scored his only Group win in 2016, taking the Ken Russell Memorial Classic (Gr 3, 1200m) at the Gold Coast on Royal Tithe (Show A Heart).
However, he celebrated a newfound partnership with Waller – which began at Gold Coast trackwork yesterday morning – by riding a Group 3 double for the leading trainer.
“It was a great day, probably one of my best in the saddle,” Dittman told Andrew Bensley post-race. “To get a double with a couple of Group winners, I can’t be any happier. Today was my first day riding work for Chris Waller, actually, so hopefully it earns me a spot on the roster there and I can just keep punching home winners. That’s the plan anyway, hopefully I can give something back to Chris for the trust he’s shown me.
“I’ve had a little bit of luck for him in the last month or so, so that’s helped. Obviously, he’s got a good team and he’s a great trainer. I can’t ask for more from him and just to be able to do my end of the job and get them home, it’s what I’m striving to do.”
Another Dollar (5 m Ocean Park – Make A Wish by Pins), who is set to go through the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale next month, added a first Group 3 win to her record and a second stakes win this preparation in the Premiers Cup.
The Mystery Downs-owned five-year-old also brought up just her second win at Doomben from nine attempts, but her previous runs at the tight Brisbane track included seconds in the Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m), the Doomben Roses (Gr 2, 2000m) and the Gold Coast Bracelet (Listed, 1630m), as well as a third in the Chairman’s Handicap (Gr 3, 2000m).
“You can’t knock her,” Dittman said. “Her last run probably wasn’t her best but she’s bounced back and she’s come back better than ever. She’s turned into a Doomben specialist. I know the last one who was a specialist here was a bloody good horse, she’s just got a bit more distance on him.”
Settling handy one off the fence under Dittman, she came under a ride as Jag Guthmann-Chester on the Michael Costa-trained La Pulga (Dream Ahead) searched for a run near the inside.
Switched back to the inside, La Pulga raced a length clear of the pursuing brigade, but Another Dollar knuckled down to get up in the shadows of the post, the long neck margin belying how tight it was towards the finish.
Another Dollar’s stablemate Alward (Aqlaam) was a further length and a quarter away in third; in fact, Waller had five of the first six across the line.
“I knew she always was one of the better horses in the race and I got a lovely run from the get-go, one out and one back,” Dittman said. “In the back of my mind, the horse to beat was La Pulga back on my inside. I was just hoping that I could hold him in enough to get out in good time. He got through on the fence and kicked.
“When I gave my mare a dig, she was just a bit flat-footed for a couple of strides, but I was lucky enough to run him down.”
Waller’s Queensland manager Paul Shailer was full of praise for the winning rider.
“That was a very good ride on a horse which can be tricky. He is a very good jockey and you can say he will be getting a lot more rides in the city for us in coming months,” Shailer said. “She doesn’t win out of turn this mare. I actually told her owner she was probably up against it today, but she goes home to Sydney with a Group 3 to her name.”
The trainer has now won all 18 of the major staying feature races in Queensland with the Premiers Cup the only one not in his cabinet before yesterday.
Bred by Waikato Stud, Another Dollar was purchased from the Waikato draft at the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale by Waller for $190,000.
She is out of the two-time winner Make A Wish (Pins), who herself is out of the Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Starcent (Centaine). Further back, this is the family of Group 1 winners Vanbrugh (Encosta De Lago), Sacred Star (Flying Spur), Diademe (Savabeel) and Embellish (Savabeel).
Since visiting Ocean Park (Thorn Park) in 2013, producing Another Dollar, Make A Wish has visited Savabeel (Zabeel) six times: four-year-old Any Wish races in the same Mystery Downs colours and won twice in NSW earlier this year, while two-year-old No Limits is unraced but trialled for Te Akau Racing last Tuesday. She also has a yearling colt by Savabeel, while she is back in foal to the Waikato Stud stalwart.
Another Dollar will be offered as Lot 114 on July 20, part of a bumper hour that includes Group 1 winners Sunlight (Zoustar) and Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) as well as Friday’s Gold Coast winner Vincere Volare (I Am Invincible).
Sure as Sapphire for Waller
One mare who will not be offered for sale is Sapphire Stakes winner Sure Knee, who races in the famous Ingham cerise colours and is set to join their broodmare band at the end of her career.
Sure Knee (4 m Snitzel – Shawnee Girl by Encosta De Lago) scored a first stakes win yesterday, dashing home to defeat the Magic Millions-bound Krone (Eurozone) by a length with a head back to Baccarat Baby (Casino Prince) in third.
“She got back in the field and I got a fortunate run in behind Krone,” Dittman said. “When they sprinted, they just left her a bit flat-footed and I thought, ‘Gee, I’ve got a bit of ground to make up.’ When I got her out in clear room and I let her go, she quickened nicely. She was just too good for them at the finish which was a blessing for me.”
Shailer said that the primary reason for sending Sure Knee to Queensland was in search of black type.
“Like everyone at this time of the year Chris was looking for black type for her. He is a master at finding the right races for these mares,” he said.
It was a reunion of sorts for Dittman, who sported the cerise colours early in his career, shortly before the Ingham family sold the majority of their racing assets to Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Maktoum and his Darley operation.
“Early days, when they had a stable in Brisbane, I was only about 16 years old, I had a bit of luck with them,” he said. “I had a couple of winners for them, they were kind enough to give me a couple of really good rides, so it was great to wear the cerise silks again.”
Sure Knee, a homebred for the Inghams, is out of Shawnee Girl (Encosta De Lago), a four-time winner in the cerise as well as third in the Magic Night Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) to Indian Ocean (Danehill Dancer) in 2009.
She is the third foal out of Shawnee Girl, joining the Group 1-placed Oklahoma Girl (Fastnet Rock) and maiden Milanese Girl (Snitzel).
Shawnee Girl has a yearling Fastnet Rock (Danehill) colt, a weanling American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) filly and is in foal to The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice).
Sure Knee’s third dam Explosive (Fappiano) is one of the stalwart Gooree Park mares, having produced Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago), Queen Of The Hill (Danehill) and Rabbuka (Giant’s Causeway), as well as Comical Smile (Comic Strip), the dam of Smart Missile (Fastnet Rock).
Further back, it is the family of a host of top-liners, ranging from last week’s dominant Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) winner Lord North (Dubawi) to the incomparable Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer).
Frankel filly Awesome in McKell
While Waller dominated in Brisbane, he came up empty handed in the features at his home track of Rosehill.
The W J McKell Cup (Listed, 2000m) is one of the few Sydney features to elude the Kiwi trainer and, while Waller trainees finished third, fourth and fifth, they could not hold out the Kris Lees-trained pair of Frankely Awesome (Frankel) and Sixties Groove (Sixties Icon).
Frankely Awesome, placed in the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and the ATC Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) behind Verry Elleegant (Zed) last year, had struggled for form this preparation as she returned from an injury-enforced break.
However, her last run – a closing sixth over 1800 metres behind stablemate Attention Run (Hurricane Run) – set her up perfectly for her fourth run back from a spell.
Settling midfield under Jason Collett, Frankely Awesome travelled strongly throughout and was tracking up strongly on the turn, so much so that it was just a matter of Collett finding room. That came at the 350 metres when he switched out off the heels of Carzoff (Zoffany) and, while it took her a fair bit of time to wind up, she was full of running late to win by three-quarters of a length.
Sixties Groove just arrived in the last stride to grab second, snatching the runner-up position from Carzoff in third.
Lees said that it had been a labour of love to get the Cressfield-owned Frankely Awesome back into the winners’ circle, with the four-year-old a potential Grafton Cup (Listed, 2350m) runner next month.
“She looked like being a really handy three-year-old and she went amiss in the Oaks,” Lees said. “It has taken a while to get her back to this grade. I started to question just where she was at when we got her back in work, but the team has done a really good job at home and I think she is really appreciating the soft ground during the winter.”
Frankely Awesome is the 54th stakes winner for the legendary Frankel (Galileo), but just the fourth in Australia, joining Miss Fabulass, Hungry Heart and Finche. He has had only 28 foals born in Australia.
She is out of the American stakes winner Street Secret (Street Cry), who was purchased at the 2013 Fasig Tipton Fall Mixed Sale for US$535,000 by James Bester on behalf of Cressfield’s Bruce Neill. She was then sold to Paul Moroney Bloodstock for $680,000 at the 2017 Inglis Chairman’s Sale.
“Bruce Neill purchased the mare and got her into foal to Frankel to southern hemisphere time,” Lees said. “He wasn’t able to get her to a sale so it’s very pleasing to win a stakes race with her.”
Frankely Awesome is bred on a 4 X 4 cross of her fourth dam Allegretta (Lombard), who herself is the dam of the world’s most influential blue hen of the modern era in Urban Sea (Miswaki).
Street Secret has produced two foals by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) – two-time winner Secretly Awesome and unraced two-year-old Maternal Gift. She is currently back in foal to Snitzel.