Within The Law set to be unleashed as Sydney’s weather puts Saturday card in doubt
While Sydney’s wet weather continues to play havoc with racing, the Bjorn Baker stable is excited to be lifting the covers off the outstanding Within The Law (Lucky Vega) for her spring three-year-old campaign in the fillies’ Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
Saturday’s Randwick fields are packed with quality, highlighted by Australia’s first top tier race of the season, Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), which has attracted a host of star acceptors – Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock), Aeliana (Castevecchio), Ceolwulf (Tavistock), Gringotts (Per Incanto) and Fangirl (Sebring) to name a few.
But with Randwick a heavy 10 on Wednesday, with more rain falling and still more forecast for every day through Saturday, the chance of the meeting even going ahead – let alone be decimated by scratchings – looked slim.
Trainer Peter Snowden had already run up the white flag on Wednesday about his former highly rated juvenile Memo (Capitalist) running in the Silver Shadow.
“I’ve accepted with her but I probably won’t run. I don’t want to run her on a bog first-up. There’s plenty of races for her later,” Snowden said of Memo, one of six stakes-winners last season by Newgate Farm’s Capitalist (Written Tycoon).
Snowden said Memo would likely instead wait until Saturday week and take on the males in either Caulfield’s McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) – with Melbourne enjoying far drier conditions than Sydney at present – or in the San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Rosehill, weather permitting.
Another acceptor is Brad Widdup’s promising Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) – who ran Group seconds back-to-back in the autumn.
Widdup had hoped to resume her on August 7 at Kembla Grange, but scratched due to a heavy 10. Savvy Hallie instead ran first-up a week later at Newcastle last Thursday. She won impressively in a 900-metre maiden by 5.48 lengths, but the fact that was on a heavy 9 makes Widdup reluctant to back her up relatively quickly on another bog this Saturday, as her campaign gets under way.
“We’ll see what happens, but second-up, on the quick back-up on a heavy track, I’m not in a rush to run her,” he said.
The Silver Shadow kicks off Randwick’s four-race Princess Series, also incorporating the Furious Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) on September 6, the Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) on September 20, and the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) on October 4.
Widdup said rather than run this Saturday, he might be inclined to wait with Savvy Hallie for the Furious Stakes, or the San Domenico.
A $320,000 Inglis Classic purchase for Benny Vassallo’s BK Racing and Breeding, Savvy Hallie debuted in February with a 0.1–length second at Warwick Farm to subsequent Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) hero King Of Pop (Farnan).
Two starts later she ran second to subsequent Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) victor Nepotism in The Baillieu (Gr 3, 1400m) at Rosehill, before also being runner-up to Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) third placegetter Tempted (Street Boss) in the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
“I think she’s above average – she’s definitely got a bit of quality about her,” Widdup said of the daughter of Hellbent. “But you hope they keep improving before we start getting carried away.
“But I don’t think she’s going to get out to the 1400 or 1600. She’s probably a bit brilliant for that.”
Despite the meeting being under a cloud, one filly who’ll definitely be running in the Silver Shadow if it goes ahead is Baker’s Within The Law.
Bookmakers installed her as a $3.70 second favourite on Wednesday behind Agarwood (Wootton Bassett), the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott filly, who won her first two starts in May, and is a $2.40 chance to become her sire’s first Australian-born stakes winner. Savvy Hallie was at $5, with Memo $8.50.
Within The Law has already built a remarkable story.
From the first crop of Yulong’s Lucky Vega (Lope De Vega), and the first foal of a mare named Contract Signed (Dundeel) whose best of 11 runs was a second at Newcastle, Within The Law is another from the bargain bin of canny investors Darby Racing.
She was bought for just $30,000 at Inglis Classic – which was still $10,000 more than Darby paid at the same sale in 2016 for their Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain).
Of that nondescript background, Within The Law became not only one of Australia’s star two-year-olds of 2024-25, but one of its most durable, having seven starts, winning thrice and placing thrice and earning $1.4 million.
And her only unplaced run was memorable too, alas coming on the biggest of occasions, when she tossed Jason Collett at the 700-metre mark in the Slipper, and completed the course inside the running rail.
Taken to Melbourne for her debut, Within The Law won Flemington’s Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m), then claimed Randwick’s Inglis Nursery (RL, 1000m). After a 0.44-length second to the smart Rivellino (Too Darn Hot) in Randwick’s Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m), she won the Sweet Embrace Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) before her Slipper calamity.
She showed her character by brushing that off with a third in the Percy Sykes, and rounded off her first season with a 0.13 length second to Nepotism in the Champagne.
“Her first campaign was amazing,” said assistant trainer Luke Hilton, deputising for Baker as he flew back from a reconnaissance mission in France.
“She’s such a tough filly. She went through the rail in the Slipper, but continued on that preparation. So she’s got a great will to win and to run, and a fantastic attitude.
“She’s been very professional all along aside from that one blemish. Seven starts is a fair bit, but she’s got the constitution to deal with it.”
Furthermore, Hilton said Within The Law – who ran third under Collett in her sole barrier trial this preparation – had furnished into a more powerful three-year-old as she lines up for the Princess Series.
“She’s a bit bigger, stronger, and has filled out more,” he said. “Jason has ridden her a few times this prep and says she feels stronger, so that’s a good thing.”
Within The law has no real experience on heavy going, save for a third on a heavy 8 in her first barrier trial last October at Warwick Farm.
But with the filly having taken most things in her stride thus far, the Baker stable at this stage has no qualms about resuming her on a heavy 10, in a set weights and penalties affair in which she has topweight of 57kg, and barrier two with Collett to ride.
“At this stage we’re leaning towards running,” Hilton said. “The heavy track is not ideal, but she’s a pretty cool and honest customer and handles it well at home, so we don’t have an issue with kicking her off on a wet track. We’re confident she’ll get through it OK, and this is a good starting point for the preparation.
“She’s only had one trial, so she’s not at peak fitness but will build into it in the preparation, which is what we’re looking for.
“We hope she continues on the way she’s gone so far. Obviously they’ve got to come back and do it again as a three-year-old, but we’ve been confident in what we’ve seen so far that she’s definitely improved.
“She’ll get up to the mile, no problem. She ran second in the Champagne Stakes over that trip, going in off a 1200–metre run, so we’re confident she’ll stretch out.”