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Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising scales Everest
Hong Kong hero Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) earned confirmation of his global superstar status and a comparison to his trainer’s former champion Better Loosen Up (Loosen Up) in storming to victory in Saturday’s The Everest at Randwick.
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Joy for Tony and Calvin McEvoy as Half Yours skips away with Caulfield Cup
Half Yours (St Jean) proved himself one of the shrewdest second-hand buys of the century as he added to a regal day for unsung sires by lifting Saturday’s Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m).
Bringing trainer Tony McEvoy his first victory in the race - made more special by achieving it in partnership with son Calvin - the five-year-old prevailed as $2.50 favourite, giving rider Jamie Melham her first victory in one of Australia’s “Big Four”.
And more spring glory could await, with bookmakers responding by drastically shortening Half Yours into $3.50 favouritism for the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) at Flemington on November 4.
Starting from gate two, Melham had Half Yours well positioned in midfield as the Caulfield Cup unfolded at an even tempo. The race changed dramatically when Jordan Childs sent Adelaide River (Australia) to the front at the 1300 metres, opening a gap that stretched to eight lengths down the railway side.
But while that caused heart flutters for McEvoy Snr, he needn’t have worried.
As the field bunched around the home turn, Melham eased Half Yours into the clear some eight horses wide, and the gelding responded majestically, claiming the lead from Adelaide River inside the 200 metres, and finishing powerfully to score by 0.46 lengths.
Like his fellow leviathan trainer Ciaron Maher did in the day’s other highlight of The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m), Chris Waller filled the two minor placings in the Cup.
Yulong mare River Of Stars (Sea The Stars) stormed home for second at $91, while Valiant King (Roaring Lion) took third, a further length back, at $26.
And like the relatively unsung Shamexpress (O’Reilly) did in siring Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Ka Ying Rising, the even lesser known St Jean emerged with a stunning top tier triumph through Half Yours’s powerful victory.
Standing at Victoria’s Brackley Park stud for $3,300, St Jean the Obscure has covered just 26 mares in the past four seasons. He has a stakes-winners-to-runners ratio of 4.54 per cent (just behind Shamexpress’s 6.41 per cent), but that’s because Half Yours is his sole black type victor among just 22 runners.
A little-known pedigree matters little when you watch Half Yours gallop, although he was definitely bred to stay, being by a son of Teofilo (Galileo) out of a daughter of Desert King (Danehill), who was also the sire of a certain triple Melbourne Cup winner in Makybe Diva.
The gelding was bred by his original trainer, Maher, and the late Colin McKenna, out of a mare ironically named La Gazelle, whose best run in five was a second at Mount Gambier.
Half Yours won two of his first five starts, but after McKenna’s death last year, was auctioned on Inglis Online in an unreserved reduction. McEvoy Mitchell Racing and Belmont Bloodstock went hard to purchase him, paying $305,000, with Maher the underbidder as he unsuccessfully tried to keep the budding stayer in his stable.
The McEvoys’ insistence was soon repaid, with wins at Seymour and Rosehill followed by a paralysing finish when Half Yours stepped beyond 2000 metres for the first time to stroll home in July’s Caloundra Cup (Listed, 2400m) by 4.45 lengths.
After easily winning the Naturalism Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) at Caulfield two starts earlier, on Saturday he brought his trainers, and his second ownership team, a $3.3 million windfall.
“This is why we do it, to have a runner in these, and they're bloody hard to win, and that was incredible,” said Tony McEvoy, whose previous best in a Caulfield Cup was second with the remarkable Fields Of Omagh (Rubiton) in 2002.
“He's come a long way in six months this fellow, hasn't he? And travelling really grows horses up, and he was a big raw horse.
“The way he came into the paddock today, he looked like he'd arrived as a stayer. And then he went and did that today, so it was very exciting.
“I was so happy in the run, and then when mid-race that horse took off, I thought, ‘This is not ideal’, because if someone panics, it dishevels everything.
“But then he got into his rhythm and did the rest. It was fabulous, and I'm looking forward to watching it again.”
Calvin McEvoy choked up when describing the feeling of winning one of Australia’s most important races with his father.
“In this game it's really hard to get a start, and obviously I'm lucky to be in a privileged position,” he said. “I don't know what to say. He’s supported me and given me an opportunity in this great game.”
His father joked back: “I think he might be nice to me for a little while now!”
“It's very important,” McEvoy Snr added. “It's quite a proud moment for me to be able to do it with Cal, and yeah, it's a really enjoyable moment for me.
“In this business, you don't own many things. What you've got is your intellectual property, and if you've got no one to pass it to, it's gone
“I mean, I was hoping he was going to be a doctor or something, but look, it was such a joy for me, for him to want to follow in my footsteps. In this business, you don't own many things. What you've got is your intellectual property, and if you've got no one to pass it to, it's gone.
“And so to have Cal seeing what I've done over my time and now take it to another level, and he's added an immense arm to the business with the technology that they've got today. I’m a bit too old school myself for that stuff, so that's what's made us better.”
McEvoy Jnr added: “The horse has been a horse that we've found really easy, and when we went to Queensland, it was the making of him.”
Melham was also highly emotional after her pressure-relieving victory, following weeks in which Half Yours was a dominant favourite for the race.
“I've tried not to think about it for the last few days because I just wanted to come out here and ride him and give him the best ride I could, because I knew he was the best horse in the race,” she said.
“But everything was perfect. It worked out perfectly for him and he had to dig deep and he's an absolute superstar horse. What Tony and Calvin have done with him, they've just made this absolute professional of a horse.
“He's push button; he doesn't like jumping that well so I had to really get up him today, and he just spat the bit out and relaxed.
“Janice [McKenna, Col’s widow] texted me yesterday and said she'd make sure Col would open those gaps for me, and he did, so thank you Col.”
Asked about winning a major, Melham said: “Just saying ‘Caulfield Cup’ is going to make me cry.
“I've had an incredible career and ridden 17 Group 1s now, but that major has eluded me, and I just wanted to get one.
“But now I want maybe three more, maybe a Melbourne Cup. This horse is going to run the trip out!”
As obscure as they are, he certainly has the bloodlines for it.
French raider Presage Nocturne (Wootton Bassett) rounded out a monster first four dividend at $61, in a tremendous trial for his main target, the Melbourne Cup.
Maher’s Royal Supremacy (Make Believe) was solid in running fifth as $8.50 equal second favourite, while Ireland’s regular Cups raider Absurde (Fastnet Rock) was seventh in a strong trial for Flemington.
Market fancies Deakin (Australia), Meydaan (Frankel) and Middle Earth (Roaring Lion) looked a shade disappointing in finishing in midfield, with co-second favourite Vauban (Galiway) and Japanese Raider Golden Snap (Gold Ship) failing on the good 4 track in finishing 13th and 14th.
Half Yours was featured in It’s In The Blood - click here to read the article.
Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising scales Everest
Hong Kong hero Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) earned confirmation of his global superstar status and a comparison to his trainer’s former champion Better Loosen Up (Loosen Up) in storming to victory in Saturday’s The Everest at Randwick.
The world’s highest-rated sprinter now has the world’s richest sprint title to show for it, after racing in third place, charging past leader Overpass (Vancouver) at the 200 metres, and coming away to win by 1.15 lengths.
Ciaron Maher - the winner last year with Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) had to be content with both minor placings this time.
Godolphin filly Tempted (Street Boss), the race’s sole three-year-old, produced a mighty effort to finish second at $16, while Jimmysstar (Per Incanto) sustained a long run to finish third, a further 0.27 lengths away, at $13. Overpass ($41) clung on for fourth.
Having been around $1.70 for months leading up to the $20 million event, the New Zealand-bred Ka Ying Rising was easy on course on the day, jumping at $2 by official starting prices. But he was $1.50 on the World Pool tote, with his legion of Hong Kong fans backing him heavily.
By Windsor Park Stud’s relatively modest, fertility-challenged sire Shamexpress, the five-year-old gelding has now won 15 of his 17 starts - the last 14 on the bounce - with his earnings leaping past $21 million with Saturday’s $7m injection from the world’s richest race on turf, and its second-richest race behind the $31m Saudi Cup (Gr 1, 1800m).
And it was an emotional trainer David Hayes who breathed a sigh of delighted relief following the win, after almost a month of intense media scrutiny since Ka Ying Rising’s arrival in Sydney, especially surrounding a moderate-looking third in a Randwick barrier trial on October 7.
Hayes put Ka Ying Rising on a level with Better Loosen Up, his former champion middle distance galloper who won eight times at the highest level, including the Japan Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) in 1990.
“Better Loosen Up was the last world champion horse I’ve trained, and this one is the next one,” the Hong Kong-based Australian said.
“There’s been a lot of good horses in between but these are the two stars.”
In a rare event on a racecourse - especially before a race - Purton revealed Ka Ying Rising had been roundly booed by mostly young and rowdy racegoers amongst the sell-out crowd of around 46,000 as he made his way to the starting gates.
“The crowd did a good job of trying to buzz him up before the race,” said Purton, the Australian who’s won eight Hong Kong riding titles.
“I didn’t expect them to boo him and be as vocal as they were when he came out on the track, and it was all the way until we got to the end of the crowd
“I didn’t expect them to boo him and be as vocal as they were when he came out on the track, and it was all the way until we got to the end of the crowd.
“But he handled it really well, I was really impressed with that.
“I just love him. He’s just such a nice horse to ride.”
Hayes, who has also trained such outstanding gallopers as Miss Finland (Redoute’s Choice), Criterion (Sebring), Jeune (Kalaglow) and Primacy (Prego), was in an ebullient mood after the weight-for-age slot race.
"It’s an absolute thrill," he said. "I can’t wait to watch the replay and enjoy it. It’s a long straight isn’t it, when you hit the front with 300 metres to go?
"But I think he held up pretty well. Great ride by Zac.
"I actually would’ve been shattered had he lost today, truth be known, when he was so calm an hour before the race.
"It's certainly the biggest thrill of my life, and it's been the longest ten days in my life.”
Ka Ying Rising’s mere presence brought the ninth Everest a genuine international flavour for the first time.
Asked what the victory meant for Hong Kong racing, Hayes said: “I think it will be wonderful. He’s the pin-up boy there.”
He added that despite the criticism and whispers it induced, Ka Ying Rising’s Randwick barrier trial had worked well. In his 0.23 length third, the star sprinter finished behind Group 1 winners Linebacker (Super Seth) and Overpass, and ahead of multiple elite victors Mr Brightside (Bullbars), Joliestar (Zoustar) and Fangirl (Sebring).
“He blew out all the mothballs and a lot of people were very critical of the trial but he still beat [the winners of] 20 Group 1 [races] and ran third, not really tested,” Hayes said.
“So relieved, but when he saddled up calm he had to really run below form not to win today. But I couldn’t say that, I couldn’t be cocky [but] I would’ve been so disappointed if he didn’t win when he saddled up calm.”
Just as Hayes opined that “there’s more to come with this horse”, Purton said Ka Ying Rising had won despite being below his best.
“Overpass skipped for him early and I had to chase him. To my horse’s credit, he wasn’t letting him go. He got the better of me in the trial and we said that he’s not going to get the better of me in the race,” said Hong Kong’s eight-time premier rider.
“We chased him down and coasted to the line. There were a few days when I was not that happy with his trial but the more I analysed it, the ground was soft and he didn’t like it, he was overweight and heavy.
“Overpass is a pretty good horse and I underestimated him until I went back into his replays over the last few days and he’d just been beaten in an Everest before.
“I don’t think we saw him [Ka Ying Rising] at his best today but even though he wasn’t at his best he’s still good enough.”
The 40-year-old Purton became emotional when comparing Ka Ying Rising to the other Hong Kong superstar with whom he formed a partnership, eight-time elite victor Beauty Generation (Road To Rock).
“To have one champion I rode in my career, I thought that was unbelievable for me,” he said. “And now to have one come along that could be even better, right at this moment it really does hit home.
“You become a bit emotional. You appreciate it more now because it [Purton’s career] is nearly over, but I’m so lucky. I’ve had such a good career and so lucky to have this horse come along now.”
Bred in New Zealand by his original trainer Fraser Auret, Ka Ying Rising was sold after a trial to Hayes’s Victoria-based sons, Ben, Will and JD.
After two jump-outs and a trial, the brothers alerted their father that they had a horse worthy of Hong Kong. He went to the territory, won his first start as a three-year-old in December 2023, ran 0.1 length seconds at his next two, and hasn’t been beaten since.
Ka Ying Rising is the best of only two foals borne of five-time winner Missy Moo (Per Incanto) before she was euthanised due to crippling arthritis.
The star sprinter’s year-young half-brother Ka Ying Glory (Turn Me Loose) has run one second from three starts for David Hayes in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Englebrecht-Bresges was on course to cheer home Ka Ying Rising. The HKJC acquired a $700,000 slot, in partnership with the Australian Turf Club, to race the gelding in the Everest.
“I think Hong Kong has two global stars,” he said. “One is Romantic Warrior, who has proved himself internationally. Now, Ka Ying Rising has done the same and it's extremely important when you see how many people in Hong Kong watch this race. It is now the people's horse.
“It's extremely important to show that Hong Kong is a global city, that we have one of the best horses in the world and that we can help to create a global atmosphere, because the atmosphere today is absolutely astonishing and fascinating.
“For us, the money for the slot is not important. For us, what we want to create is global racing at its best and therefore we need strategic partners who embrace the same vision we have. We have this here.”
Ka Ying Rising was featured in Good Morning Bloodstock - click here to read the article
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.
Autumn Mystery emerges as another shining light for Arrowfield’s star sire
Arrowfield’s emerging star stallion The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) moved into double figures for stakes winners when Autumn Mystery brought a first black type success for Mornington-based trainer Rory Hunter in Saturday’s Caulfield Classic (Gr 3, 2000m).
Sent out a $4.60 third-favourite for the old Norman Robinson Stakes under Blake Shinn, the gelding began well and settled third on the fence as an engrossing tactical battle in the eight-runner race ensued.
After a steady tempo had been set, moves came from the back passing the 700 metres, and Autumn Mystery was shuffled back to second-last, forcing Shinn to sweat on a run rounding the home turn.
But switched to the left from the middle of the ruck at the 200 metres, Autumn Mystery drove up strongly inside a line of five rivals to prevail by 0.75 lengths.
Arrowfield stallions filled the first four in a bunched finish.
Shuttler Maurice (Screen Hero) sired the minor placegetters as Nick Ryan’s Miewa racked his second straight stakes second placing, while a third gelding, Cairon Maher’s Amazake, claimed his first piece of black type in third.
And Matt Cumani’s colt Deal Done Fast (Dundeel), bred and owned by South Africa’s Drakenstein Stud, clung on for fourth after being the first to come from the back down the Railway Side.
Autumn Mystery tightened to $6 second-favouritism for the VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) on November 1, with Miewa at $8. The market is headed by Maher’s Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) third placegetter Observer (Ghaiyyath).
The win for Autumn Mystery - bought for a mere $15,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale - gave The Autumn Sun ten stakes winners from 198 starters at 5.05 per cent.
Arrowfield’s ten-year-old, back serving mares this spring at $66,000 after a year off with a pelvis injury, will yet again have a strong chance at siring another Classic winner should Autumn Mystery contest the Derby as expected.
Four of The Autumn Sun’s five Group 1 winners have scored in Classics, alongside two other Classics placegetters.
Having shown ability as a two-year-old, Autumn Mystery ran a 4.5 length ninth in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m). Spelled immediately, he returned to follow placings at Sandown and Bendigo with his breakthrough win in Flemington’s VRC Derby Preview (1800m) on September 21, his last start for almost a month before Saturday.
The victory was also an emotional one for Hunter, who had his first runner less than three years ago.
“It’s massive. This horse is a star. He's still six months away from being the best of him, it's just incredible,” Hunter said.
“To do it with such a supportive family. They've been so loyal to me along the way and stuck with me. I can't thank them enough.
“We've got ten in work, but we've got the capacity to have 20 if we want. The more horses the merrier, keep them coming.
“These moments don't come along very often, and to be here and share with my family and such a loyal bunch of owners and the staff around us, it's just amazing.”
Hunter confirmed the Derby would be next for Autumn Mystery.
“At this stage, but we'll just see how he pulls up over the next couple of days. The horse is more important than anything, but it’s sensational. It’d be a boyhood dream, that’s for sure,” said Hunter, greatly appreciative of Shinn’s ride.
“I was sweating there for a minute, but I think once he saw daylight, I was pretty positive he was going to get the win.
“He’s [Shinn] tasted success of a Group 1 50 times or more, so you can't doubt his experience.”
Shinn was delighted with the victory.
“It was a great win. He ran the 2000 [metres] out and bring on the Derby,” the jockey said.
“I was really happy from the jump. He was a little bit keen through the first 400 [metres], with the break between runs but I got him to switch off from the 1200.
“But then the pressure came on early. I was happy following Mark Zahra [on favourite Engine Of War], but he wasn’t going anywhere approaching the turn and I had to look for another opportunity.
“Fortunately enough, the horse was nimble enough to dart back to the inside, the run came and he did the rest.”
Shinn also paid tribute to Hunter.
“This is what dreams are made of. It honestly gives me so much satisfaction to achieve a result like this for Rory, his family and the owners,” he said. “He’s a lovely guy, small team, he’s competing at the carnival and winning a black type race at Caulfield.
“Full credit to Rory, he’s prepped him up lovely. Had a break between runs, up to 2000 [metres] and he’s managed the horse impeccably well.”
Bred by Gilgai Farm, and bought from their Premier draft by owners Nick and Denise Thompson, Autumn Mystery is the fourth foal of the Moonee Valley Group 3-placed winner Stop Making Sense (Sebring).
Second dam Etoile Fille (No Excuse Needed) is a half-sister to the dam of former star sprinter I Wish I Win (Savabeel), while third dam Starcent (Centaine) was a multiple New Zealand stakes-winner, and Group 1-placed.
Stop Making Sense now has a two-year-old colt by Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible), a yearling colt by Yes Yes Yes (Rubick), and a colt foal by Flying Artie (Artie Schiller).
The black type debacle rumbles on
A reminder to our readers: Three races on Saturday’s Everest card at Randwick were held under incorrectly advertised black type designations.
The three are among 18 events which Racing NSW has listed as being upgraded since the start of last season, moves reflected on the databanks of RNSW and Racing Australia.
However, the Asian Racing Federation has not approved those designations, so they will not be reflected in any sales catalogues.
The situation is thus likely to cause confusion for connections of winners and placegetters of Saturday’s three events in question - and of other races among the 18 that are continuing to be run under their faux categorisations.
It will also likely cause disappointment when envisaged boosts to the value of affected horses and/or their relatives do not come to fruition as the races are not shown under such designations in sales catalogues.
For the absence of doubt, Saturday’s three affected races were:
- The Sir Reginald Allen Quality (1400m), which is advertised as a Group 3 but is in fact still only Listed. It was won by the Chris Waller-trained filly Panova (Trapeze Artist)
- The St Leger Stakes (2600m), advertised as a Group 3 but which is in fact non-black type. It was won by Waller-trained gelding Travolta (Lope De Vega).
- The Silver Eagle (1300m), advertised as a Group 3 but also non-black type. It was won by the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained gelding Linebacker (Super Seth).
Next Saturday at Randwick brings The Invitation (1400m), advertised as a Group 2 but non-black type, and the Five Diamonds Prelude (1500m), advertised as Listed but does not carry black type.





























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