Joliestar all set for Royal Ascot raid after fifth Group 1 success
The TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) was the next on the card and Chris Waller’s Joliestar (Zoustar) delivered the champion trainer his second Group 1 of the day and her fifth overall, before a Royal Ascot mission was confirmed for the flying five-year-old.
Randwick’s weight-for-age autumn sprint highlight was an intriguing betting race, with both Joliestar and Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) attracting late support, the mare starting a $3.90 favourite and the gelding a $4.60 equal second elect.
And that assessment proved accurate as Joliestar lived up to the punters’ support, outsprinting Giga Kick at the finish to score by 0.6 lengths.
Settling midfield of the nine on the inside for James McDonald, Joliestar assumed the lead from Overpass (Vancouver) at the 250 metres while Giga Kick was winding up after travelling deeper in the field.
Despite racing on the inferior section of the track, Joliestar took a one-length lead by the 150 metres and was able to comfortably withstand Giga Kick’s finish, in a win which took her earnings past $9 million.
Skybird (Exosphere) finished another 0.4 lengths back in third in spite of the $41 hope’s barrier antics pre-race.
Meanwhile, the boom lowered further on Godolphin colt Tentyris (Street Boss). Another who was backed in, from $5 to start $4.60, the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained sprinter didn’t look at home in his first attempt on wet ground, travelling last and finishing last.
At the other end it was all almost routine for Joliestar, who was scoring a third straight success and back-to-back top tier wins after taking Randwick’s Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m) the start previous.
She may have to battle for air time alongside two contemporary females Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) and Sheza Alibi (Saxon Warrior), but such is Joliestar’s ability – and maturity after 21 starts – that Waller had no hesitation in confirming a Royal Ascot mission post-race, targeting the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) in June.
“I would go to Royal Ascot and bring her back for The Everest – she has just started to mature as a racehorse,” Waller said.
“I think we will probably go for the Jubilee at Royal Ascot. We had the trip planned well before today but we wanted to see her run well in the TJ to cement her place for England.
“She’ll have a little bit of down time now and then we’ll work our way back from Royal Ascot. We’ll do our usual jump-outs and trials and get her on the plane.
“She goes so well fresh and no doubt will represent Australasia very well on the grand stage,” the expat Kiwi said of the Cambridge Stud-owned mare.
Waller said Saturday’s victory highlighted the development of Joliestar over the past year.
She was good enough to win Flemington’s Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) in March last year, but then disappointed in the T J Smith when ninth as a $3.30 favourite.
“That is the difference between her this year compared to last year,” Waller said.
“Last year, she could pull out a belter but wide draws and luck in running could get her beaten. But she is a more complete racehorse now.”
McDonald, after taking his Australian Group 1 record to 134, said any doubts from earlier in her career had been erased by Joliestar now.
“She has had her doubters before, but they have no leg to stand on now. She is a grand final winner,” he said.
“I just let her gallop [today]. I learnt not to organise her too much. Even though I would have preferred to be on the outside, I wasn’t too deterred by the inside because I had room, she was organised and as it happens so often, us jockeys overplay the bias a little bit.
“When I walked the track I didn’t think it was that bad, where I was.”
Asked about Royal Ascot, McDonald said: “It’s very exciting and no doubt she’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
A $950,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase for Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay, Joliestar now has ten wins and seven placings from 21 starts.
With prize money of $9.03 million, she is the highest earner for reigning champion sire Zoustar, and one of the Widden Stud flagbearer’s 79 stakes winners from 1,187 runners, at 6.7 per cent.
It was a red-letter day for the son of Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago), having also sired two new stakes winners across the country in Plaintiff and Zoupurring, who scored in the PJ Bell Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Randwick and the Railway Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at Oakbank respectively.
Bred by Chris and Jane Barham, she is the best of six winners from six to race out of the Group 1-placed and Group 2-winning Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Jolie Bay, herself a sister to both Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner Merchant Navy and Listed winner Setanta.
Cambridge also bought Jolie Bay’s filly by Anamoe (Street Boss) at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, for $470,000.
The mare now has a Joliestar’s weanling brother at foot, and was covered by Darley’s Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) last spring.