Orchestral hits Group 1 note with 3YO success
Rising Savabeel (Zabeel) filly Orchestral provided a reminder of the legacy her champion sire’s feats in the breeding barn when she produced an impressive performance to win yesterday’s Karaka Millions 3YO (RL, 1600m) at Ellerslie, setting her on a path towards Group 1 glory.
Yesterday’s win provided trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood with back-to-back wins in the NZ$1.5 million contest, with Orchestral emulating her now retired former stablemate Prowess (Proisir), who won last year’s edition of the three-year-old race before going on to win a brace of Group 1s, including the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
She put a three-and-a-half length margin on Pendragon (US Navy Flag) with Just As Sharp (Swiss Ace) another half a length away in third.
Ethereal Star (Snitzel) was brave in fourth while New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Molly Bloom (Ace High) finished seventh.
“She didn’t just win it, she bolted in,” James said.
“To win New Zealand’s richest race two years in a row is something that dreams are made of.”
Jockey James McDonald compared Orchestral to another James-trained four-time Group 1 winner, champion New Zealand three-year-old and stayer Silent Achiever (O’Reilly).
“She is a beautiful filly,” he said.
“I reckon Roger has got another Silent Achiever on his hands, she is that nice. She accelerated when I asked her and switched off well. I would have loved for her to begin a little bit better, but we got away with it today, everything panned out perfectly.”
James added: “They [Silent Achiever and Prowess] were multiple Group 1 winners. This filly has yet to get there, but what she has done to date, there is every reason to think she will.”
Savabeel was dethroned by Proisir last year in New Zealand’s stallion premiership, but Waikato Stud’s champion remains a source of elite horses, Orchestral being his 138th individual stakes winner. With 53 horses by Savabeel to go under the hammer at NZB’s Karaka Yearling Sale, which starts today, his progeny are sure to be sought after once again in 2024.
A winner of her maiden at two before returning at three to win her past start, taking her record to six starts for three wins and NZ$876,000 in prize-money, Orchestral was a NZ$625,000 purchase by her trainers from the 2022 Karaka Sale out of the Haunui Farm draft.
She is out of the stakes-placed Symphonic (O’Reilly), herself a sister to the stakes-placed Tralee Chorus and three-quarter-sister to Spring (O’Reilly), the dam of three-time Group 1-winning filly Daffodil (No Excuse Needed).
Haunui Farm will offer the brother to Orchestral as Lot 464 at the Karaka sale and Symphonic was covered by Savabeel again in 2023.