‘Magic filly’ Belle Cheval shines in Vinery Stud Stakes
The mighty Savabeel (Zabeel) chalked up his 36th elite winner when Belle Cheval scored a thrilling and dramatic victory in Saturday’s Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Rosehill.
In one of many spine-tingling finishes on a magnificent day of racing in Sydney and Melbourne, the New Zealand filly scored a popular win with punters as $2.60 favourite in the $750,000 feature, giving trainer Mark Walker his 33rd Group 1 success and jockey Zac Lloyd his fifth.
It also came with ample post-race tension, before Belle Cheval was confirmed as emulating half-brother The Bostonian (Jimmy Choux) in becoming an elite victor.
Jumping from gate two of nine under Lloyd, riding with great confidence following his Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) win a week earlier at the same track on Guest House (Home Affairs), Belle Cheval enjoyed a perfect trail in third on the fence, behind a moderate tempo which suited her at her first try beyond 1600 metres.
Lloyd eased his mount off the heels of the leader and inside Dom Sutton’s $61 longshot After Summer (The Autumn Sun) as the field headed for home, while to the outside $4.20 chance Salty Pearl (Tagaloa) and $2.70 second elect Ohope Wins (Ocean Park) staked their claims.
Belle Cheval claimed the lead at the 200 metres but at the same time veered dramatically outward, across the line of After Summer.
Straightened by Lloyd under vigorous whip riding, the Kiwi raider knuckled down to see out the job as After Summer rallied late, holding just enough in reserve to beat After Summer on the bob of the head, denying that filly’s sire The Autumn Sun a third Group 1 title in eight days by just 0.01 lengths.
In post-race drama, After Summer’s rider Billy Egan lodged a protest due to the interference in the last furlong, but with Egan not having been forced to stop riding at any point, the objection was dismissed.
Salty Pearl couldn’t quite match the finishing bursts of the first pair in her initial try beyond 1600 metres but held third, while Ohope Wins managed an unfulfilling fourth for her backers, 0.81 lengths off the winner.
Walker, who runs bases in New Zealand and at Cranbourne, was delighted with the victory, which complemented another elite title across the Tasman for his stable earlier in the afternoon when Seize The Day (I Am Invincible) took the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
Walker said the finish was scarily reminiscent of The Kiwi (Listed, 1500m) at Ellerslie on March 7, when Well Written (Written Tycoon) drifted out on Belle Cheval in the closing stages but clung on to win in another head-bobber.
“It was the NZB Kiwi photo all over again. She just ran around a bit, but it was great for the filly, [breeders and co-owners] David [Archer] and Diane [Wright], and the team at home in New Zealand prepared her really well,” Walker said.
“Everyone has been working hard in Melbourne and New Zealand. We had a Group 1 at home today and a Group 1 here, so it’s a very special day.
“I actually thought we got beaten, whereas I’d thought we’d won the NZB Kiwi. I was glad to see the photo.”
Walker said he would not be tempted to run Belle Cheval in the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) on April 11.
“She’s just a magic filly. She can have a nice break now and we’ll look forward to the spring. No Oaks for her. She gets a rest,” said Walker, equally in awe of his filly’s sire.
“She is by Savabeel, he’s been the perennial champion sire at home for a long, long time. We’re going to miss him severely, he’s getting on in years.”
Waikato Stud’s 24-year-old Savabeel, who stood last season for NZ$100,000 (plus GST), has 157 stakes winners worldwide from 1,438 runners, at a superb 10.91 per cent. In Australia, he has 68 from 814 at 8.35 per cent.
Lloyd was full of praise for Belle Cheval.
“Obviously she was stepping up to 2000 but the race panned out beautifully, they didn’t go an overly strong gallop which I didn’t want for her,” he said.
“She quickened very well and I’m very surprised to see the horse I pushed out at the top of the straight [After Summer] come back and nearly beat me because she quickened very well away from it.
“Normally she’s known for her dazzling turn of foot whereas today she built and showed a bit of fight. She’s a good mare and it was a tenacious win by her.”
“To do it for Mark Walker, a top New Zealand trainer, it’s very pleasing. A big thanks to him for putting me on.”
A homebred for Archer and Wright, Belle Cheval was already a stakes winner having scored at Group 3 level at Ellerslie over 1200 metres and 1400 metres in the summer.
Extremely well bred, she’s the ninth named foal of the remarkable Keepa Cheval (Keeper), a winning half-sister to the outstanding (King) Mufhasa (Pentire), a 10-time G1 winner on both sides of the Tasman.
Keepa Cheval’s third foal was The Bostonian, a three-time elite victor, while seventh foal Cheval D’Or has won a New Zealand Group 3.
The mare’s latest foal, a colt by Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), was bought from Landsdowne Park’s draft by Tony Pike for $170,000 at Karaka this year.
Belle Cheval became the third New Zealand winner of the Vinery in four years, after Orchestral (Savabeel) in 2024 and Prowess (Proisir) a year earlier.
Savabeel will have four lots up for grabs at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney.