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Desert Lightning strikes in thrilling Goodwood finish
By Trevor Marshallsea
ANZ News
Former New Zealand gelding Desert Lightning (Pride Of Dubai) showed his remarkable versatility once again in storming to a thrilling triumph in Saturday’s The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville.
Bringing another elite title to the old firm of Peter Moody and Luke Nolen – at the place where they so memorably lifted the race with Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) 14 years ago – Desert Lightning scored in a frenetic finish to bring a second feature in quick succession for Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry).
Twenty-two minutes earlier, the Coolmore stallion’s star performer Pride Of Jenni had won the Gold Coast’s Hollindale Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m).
Jumping from barrier four of 14 with the maximum 56 kilograms in the set weights Goodwood, Desert Lightning settled eighth, one off the fence, behind a strong tempo.
Yulong’s $6.50 third-favourite Tycoon Star (Written Tycoon) had travelled strongly outside the longshot leader Power Beau (Brazen Beau) on a Morphettville Soft 6, and duly charged to the front at the 200 metres. But while some were hailing him as the winner, so much was still to happen.
Grand Larceny (Zoustar) stormed up on Tycoon Star’s right, and New York Lustre (Manhattan Rain) ($20) staked a bold claim for the lead on his left.
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Wider out Desert Lightning was winding up with a powerhouse finish, but he too soon looked under threat as $3.50 favourite Extragalactic (Deep Field) emerged from behind him, the three-year-old filly unleashing a withering run under apprentice Luke Cartwright and just 50 kilos.
The five horses charged to the finish, with the outside pair eventually barrelling to the lead, and while many would have felt Extragalactic had done enough, the photo revealed the bobbing heads ended with Desert Lightning getting his nose down at the line, scoring by 0.02 lengths.
“I wasn't sure,” Nolen said. “But that (TV) drone kept following me around everywhere. I thought, ‘Oh, it must be a bloody chance’.
“We had a really economical run in the race. He had a winnable weight, I presented him to win the race and I wasn't sure at the line.”
Grand Larceny held on for third at $17, ahead of New York Lustre and Tycoon Star.
Desert Lightning was easy in betting, starting at $18. That was perhaps in keeping with the six-year-old’s race history as he took on a field of gun sprinters.
The gelding’s first stakes win came in the 2023 Avondale Guineas (Gr 2, 2100m). His first of what’s now a pair of elite victories came over the mile in Trentham’s TAB Classic (Gr 1, 1600m), a distance at which he was also placed twice at the top level in New Zealand.
And last spring, he ran a solid fifth in the Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) after winning over 1500 metres at Moonee Valley.
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Originally trained in New Zealand by Peter and Dawn Williams before joining Moody and co-trainer Katherine Coleman at Pakenham in 2024, Desert Lightning now has eight wins from 1100 to 2100 metres, and $2.2 million in earnings.
“He participated in an All Star Mile before he came to us, so we weren't sure,” Nolen said of Desert Lightning’s ninth in that event in 2024, behind the aforementioned Pride Of Jenni.
“We thought that [1600 metres] was probably his niche. But he had a little bit of help with some surgery off season, and since then he's been doing it first rate at home, so it was good to see him turn that confidence we've had in his work into winning a Group 1 here in Oz.
“He's been flying at home. He had a tough run with 60 kilos on his back first up in the Hareeba Stakes,” said Nolen, who rode him to fourth in that 1200-metre sprint at Mornington on April 18.
“The camp and myself had genuine hopes that he could win the race here today.”
A delighted Coleman – marking her seventh Group 1 with Moody after her partner’s 57 while solo – said stable favourite Desert Lightning had again shown he could more than hold his own in an elite sprint, particularly early in a campaign.
“We thought he was going to be a horse that would stretch out over ground as well, but he just seems he's best when he's fresh and happy and bouncing, and that's how he was today,” she said.
“He's such a tough horse. He's such a character. He's a genuine stable favourite. We just all adore him and his owners, Chris and Sarah Green. They've travelled from New Zealand to Adelaide today to be here for this. He's a part of their family and it's just so special.
“He's so quirky, he's got so much character. He's an older gelding. Normally, they're the quiet ones that know their job and they don't cause too much fuss. Well, he carries on out there like a two-year-old colt most mornings, and upsets other horses on the track and bounces around the stable.”
“We thought he was going to be a horse that would stretch out over ground as well, but he just seems he's best when he's fresh and happy and bouncing, and that's how he was today
Nolen forecast Desert Lightning could now be in line for a return to Moody’s original home state for a second tilt at the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m), in which he made good ground to run fourth last year.
“The horse has been going really well, so I think the next port of call is Queensland for another go at the Stradbroke,” said Nolen, celebrating his 42nd Group 1.
Bookmakers wound Desert Lightning into $11 equal favouritism for Queensland’s feature race on Saturday night.
Bought by Peter and Dawn Williams from Little Avondale Stud’s draft at Karaka 2021 for NZ$150,000, Desert Lightning is the fourth foal of unraced Australian mare Isstoora (High Chaparral).
The mare’s fifth foal is also a stakes winner in Oak Hill (Per Incanto), who’s won at Group 2 level for Team Hayes. Eighth foal Oak Lightning (Per Incanto) is also in the Moody-Coleman camp, and the two-year-old gelding earned a stakes placing in his only start to date when a 0.3-length second in Caulfield’s Redoute’s Choice Stakes (Listed, 1200m) on April 11.
Continuing a successful mating, Isstoora now has a weanling filly by Per Incanto (Street Cry) and was covered for a sixth time by the Little Avondale stallion last spring.
Hailing from the ultra successful female line of American blue hen Best In Show (Traffic Judge), Desert Lightning shares the same third dam – Twyla (Danehill) – with another autumn elite victor in Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Idle Flyer (Dundeel).
Desert Lightning is one of five Group 1 winners for Pride Of Dubai and is among the 13-year-old’s 24 stakes victors from 557 runners, at 4.3 per cent.
Pride Of Dubai, who finished a surprising third on the Australian general sires’ table last season, will stand at an unchanged $22,000 (inc GST) at Coolmore this spring.
Naifah enhances pedigree with Proud Miss success
Three-year-old filly Naifah (I Am Invincible) became her super sire’s 125th stakes winner and joined three-quarter sister and stablemate Charm Stone (I Am Invincible) as a black type victor in taking Morphettville’s Proud Miss Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) on Saturday.
Sold as a late two-year-old with three starts and a Listed-placing to her name at the 2025 Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale, the regally-bred Naifah has been a work in progress for the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable, who took her over from Team McEvoy following that auction.
She won a Hawkesbury Super Maiden on stable debut last October, but managed only two minor placings in five subsequent runs that preparation, though at least one was in black type when third in Geelong’s Black Pearl (Listed, 1200m).
But after resuming with an eye-catching third in a 1200-metre three-year-old fillies’ metro handicap at Mornington on April 18, Naifah was on-form against older mares on Saturday in scoring her first stakes success.
Starting an easy $4.20 favourite, Naifah bounded to a comfortable lead from gate two of 12 and was well rated in front by Zac Lloyd, given a relatively easy time by his rivals. Under the set-weights minimum of 54 kilograms, the filly was still full of running in the home straight and came away untroubled to win by 2.7 lengths.
Two $31 bolters filled the minors, with Peter and Belinda Blanch’s five-year-old mare Lingani (America) second, earning a third black type placing alongside one Listed success, and Jason Warren’s four-year-old Flyer (Exceedance) also notching a third stakes placing besides one Group 3 win.
Five-year-old Aviatress (Smart Missile) was fourth as $3 favourite.
Naifah was put through the Gold Coast broodmare sale by her breeders Emirates Park. She was bought for $400,000 by Steve Grant’s Silverdale Farm and Andy Williams Bloodstock, with prominent owner and breeder Neil Werrett among five others taking a share.
“She did a great job today and Zac rode her really well, got her in front,” Werrett said post-race.
“So that was a great result for her and her page. Stevie Grant bought her, and I took a little bit of her and I was pretty happy.
“She controlled that the whole way. I mean, her form was a lot better than the other horses today. And Price and Junior have done a great job to bring her over here and place her, and the whole aim was to get black type and to win this race. So she's worth a fair bit now.”
Lloyd said he anticipated leading according to the speed map, and felt Naifah was primed for success even before the race.
“I must say, cantering to the gates, I thought that you're going to need a good one to beat her,” he said. “She just felt enormous, a very well constituted filly, so I think she can go on to better things. She is still quite raw as well.
“Mick rang me this morning. He's very straightforward, knows his horses inside out. He doesn't keep you too long, tells you what he needs and lets you bounce.
“I think anyone could have won on her today. She was pretty straightforward.”
Naifah is the first foal of the Emirates Park-bred Najmah (Snitzel), a city winner of two races and a half-sister to Charm Stone – a dual Group 1-winning sprinter along with three other stakes races – and to her dual Listed-winning sister Najmaty.
The three mares’ dam Najoom (Northern Meteor) won two Group 3s among five race victories.
Najmah now has a yearling filly by Harry Angel (Dark Angel), a weanling filly by Tassort (Brazen Beau), and was covered by Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) last spring.
Triple champion sire I Am Invincible, standing at Yarraman Park this year at an unchanged $220,000 (inc GST), has 125 stakes winners from 1,353 runners at a resounding 9.24 per cent.
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On-song Jenni insuperable in Hollindale Stakes
There’s precious little even the best rivals in Australia can do when the eight-year-old Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) is in the right mood, and jockey Declan Bates knew she was in that mindset a long way from home at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The wonder mare did it again to another high class field in the Hollindale Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m), stealing an insurmountable mid-race break as rival jockeys as illustrious as James McDonald and Jamie Melham were left with few cards to play.
Jumping from gate three of ten, Pride Of Jenni steamed to a five-length lead after 300 metres. By the halfway point, the $3.30 favourite was 12 lengths clear of the peloton, which already seemed in a race for second.
Turning for home at the 350-metre mark, Jenni was still ten lengths clear.
As McDonald threw everything at $4.20 third-favourite Birdman (Free Eagle), who’d traveled just behind midfield, and Melham sent $3.80 second-elect Half Yours (St Jean) to the outside for his run, it was clear the super mare would have to suddenly hit a wall to not win again.
She did not. Birdman made a stoic effort, but it was too little in view of the task at hand.
Pride Of Jenni held on comfortably, by 0.8 lengths. Grahame Begg’s She’s A Hustler (Ace High) took third, 2.2 lengths further back at $4.60, while Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) hero Half Yours finished fairly to complete the shortest possible first four.
It was a ninth stakes victory for Tony Ottobre’s remarkable mare, alongside an All-Star Mile (1600m) success before that race was black type. She now has 13 wins from 47 stars for $12.34 million in earnings.
“I knew very early today. It was like, ‘We’re in business’.
It’s the first time since Queen Elizabeth when I knew I was happy, but at the same time I have just got to manage her
Though this first visit to the Gold Coast wasn’t quite as spectacular as her 6.54-length success in Randwick’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) two years ago, and while she’s soon to turn nine, there seems little reason to contemplate retirement just yet.
Bates, who’s ridden the mare 23 times for eight wins and seven minors, said he could tell soon after mounting up that Pride Of Jenni was in the mood for battle.
“I really just work with her,” the expat Irishman said. “It’s all about her terms, especially when she’s really loving it and nice and on song -- and I knew very early today. It was like, ‘We’re in business’.
“It’s the first time since Queen Elizabeth when I knew I was happy, but at the same time I have just got to manage her. So it’s a matter of letting her take me in.”
Trainer Ciaron Maher said he’d given Pride Of Jenni a relatively easy lead in to the Gold Coast – now the sixth track she’s won at – given she’d had three searching runs this preparation.
All were at the elite level, including a first-up 0.6-length third in the All-Star Mile and her gallant 0.02-length second in the Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) to stablemate Light Infantry Man (Fast Company).
“We were mindful that she has had three very tough runs, and given how well she went first-up, I just thought the only thing you can do is overtrain her,” the master trainer said.
“So she’s been to the Bong Bong Farm and some pretty nice establishments and we just kept her fresh, and it was a great win. She slept well and I thought we might be on today. It was great for Tony. He’s got friends and family up here so it was fantastic.”
Asked what would come next, he said: “We’ll just have a look at her but she’s just a beautiful mare and she is looking better and better.”
Bookmakers have Pride Of Jenni as a $4.50 equal second favourite for the Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) on May 23, alongside Birdman and behind $3.50 shot Half Yours.
Bred by Brent and Cherry Taylor of New Zealand’s Trelawney Stud and the Taylor Family Trust, Pride Of Jenni is the first foal out of four-time winner Sancerre (O’Reilly), herself a daughter of Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Vouvray (Zabeel).
She was bought for just $100,000 by Ottobre’s Cape Schanck Stud at Inglis Classic 2019.
Sancerre has had five other foals. Three of them are unraced, the latest is a yearling filly by Hello Youmzain (Kodiac), and the other is Awatere (Per Incanto), a metro winner in New Zealand.
Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), standing at Coolmore this year for an unchanged $22,000 (inc GST), has 24 stakes winners from 557 runners, at 4.3 per cent.
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St Gotthard all class in Ken Russell romp
High-priced colt St Gotthard (Snitzel) showed he might be every bit as good as his big brother Switzerland with an imperious victory in Saturday’s Ken Russell Memorial Classic (Gr 3, 1200m) for two-year-olds.
The second top lot at the 2025 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale – bought for $2.7 million from Arrowfield’s draft by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier – St Gotthard went into the event off a 0.2-length win in a 1200-metre Warwick Farm maiden on debut, when a $1.75 favourite.
The son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) also graduated to stakes class with big shoes to fill as the two-years-younger full-brother of Switzerland, himself a $1.5 million purchase for Magnier, who won his first three starts. He later took the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) alongside two Group 2s, and now stands at Coolmore for $55,000 (inc GST).
Long before last year’s Easter sale, Arrowfield’s bloodstock manager Jon Freyer – the man responsible for buying the pair’s Canadian dam Ms Bad Behavior (Blame) in the US – was enthusing that the future St Gotthard was a better type of yearling than even Switzerland.
And on the evidence seen at the Gold Coast on Saturday, he could well turn out to be a superior racehorse as well.
Trained like Switzerland by Chris Waller, and ridden again on Saturday by James McDonald, St Gotthard settled just behind midfield from gate two of eight, behind an only moderate pace.
The well supported $2.40 favourite loomed ominously on straightening, four-wide and under a hold, and was going to win a long way from home. He eventually burst past his rivals at the 200 metres and scored by four lengths, swishing his tail.
Paul Shailer’s gelding Silken Salute (Hello Youmzain), winner of his past two at Eagle Farm, earned his first dash of black type in carrying the colours of his sire’s home base Cambridge Stud into second place at $8.50, while Tony Gollan’s filly Boomeli (Spirit Of Boom) took third at $5.50.
The real boom is on St Gotthard, who was held up for a late entry to racing by Waller, and was elevated post-race to equal favouritism for Eagle Farm’s juvenile double of the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) on May 30 and the JJ Atkins (Gr 1, 1600m) on June 13.
“He’s a real classic looking colt and you know from the moment that he came into Chris’s stable he’s really just progressed nicely,” said Waller’s stable representative Darren Beadman.
“He just takes it all in his stride, he’s very professional and he’s making a good fist of racetrack performances.
“It was just nice to see him have another dimension to his racing pattern because he was on speed [on debut] but … he just settled back behind them and let loose.
“He could’ve easily lined up in some of the bigger races over the autumn carnival but Chris treats them all as individuals and looks way beyond the moment, and it’s providing dividends with this horse.”
McDonald lavished high praise on St Gotthard in tipping him to earn a place among the many stable stars of Waller’s team.
“Chris is building with some really good horses and this colt will be no exception,” McDonald said.
“He cost a lot of money and he’s got a beautiful temperament. He’s got incredible acceleration and he’s all class.”
Freyer had to stretch to $US600,000 at the Fasig Tipton sale of 2019 to buy Ms Bad Behavior, who won four races from 1300 to 1600 metres including a Kentucky Downs Grade 3 and a Santa Anita Listed. She’s one of three black type victors from another stakes-winning mare, Cumulonimble (Stormy Atlantic).
The investment has paid off in spades, with Ms Bad Behavior’s four sold Australian offspring netting a combined $6.75 million, including another full-brother bought at Easter this year for $2 million when Magnier teamed up with James Harron and Tony Fung.
Aside from stakes winners Switzerland and St Gotthard, the brood includes another full-brother in Michal Freedman’s three-year-old Decorum, a $550,000 yearling who’s won three times – twice in Sydney – among five starts.
Ms Bad Behavior has yet another full-brother weanling at present, but after Snitzel’s death last June, she is now in-foal to The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice).
St Gotthard becomes the 174th stakes winner from 1733 runners (10.04 per cent) for the late Arrowfield titan Snitzel, who has a commanding lead on the Australian general sires’ table as he posthumously heads towards a fifth champion sire title.
