September Run asserted herself the best 3YO sprinting filly in the land and the Giant Killer Gytrash slayed them again on another big day of feature race success for Inglis graduates.
In Melbourne, September Run (Exceed And Excel) made it three consecutive Stakes wins down the famous Flemington straight – and an all important first G1 – with a dominant victory in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
She became the fourth Inglis graduate to win the race in the past five years following the successes of Exceedance (2019), Merchant Navy (2017) and Flying Artie (2016).
September Run – bred by Greg and Jenny White’s Alpara Lodge - also became the 52nd G1-winning Inglis graduate since 2018.
In the biggest 3YO sprint race of the Victorian spring, Inglis had three graduates – September Run finished first, Wild Ruler third and Doubtland fourth.
Homebred Swats That ran second.
September Run (pictured) is a $380,000 Premier Yearling Sale purchase for her owner Hermitage Thoroughbreds, from the Blue Gum Farm draft.
Blue Gum’s Phil Campbell was blown away with today’s result.
“She’s a bloody ripper. She just keeps improving, she’s now won those three in a row in emphatic fashion, she runs good time, she’s just a great filly,’’ Campbell said.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s one thing to sell them well but what keeps people coming back to buy them year after year is if they race well.
“We’ve had an amazing run of late and that today was just the icing on the cake.’’
Winning trainer Chris Waller, who watched the race at Rosehill, believed September Run’s education and training at The Hermitage property was a significant ingredient of the G1 success.
“Going down there (to Melbourne), I was given confidence from the farm she’s from in The Hermitage, they’re amazing supporters of mine and they work up the straight track every day there,’’ Waller said.
“It’s as good a training facility as you’ll find in Australia and there’s been some pretty good horses there to say the least.
“I love my horses, I treat them all the same. I don’t go ‘wow, gee, that’s a good horse’ at the sales because they can make liars out of you but I like a nice athletic horse with a good temperament and she had that (at the Premier Yearling Sale).’’
At Rosehill Gytrash – who finished a gallant third in The Everest when running in the Inglis slot a fortnight ago – bounced back to the winners’ stall with a phenomenal win in the $1m Yes Yes Yes Stakes.
The race carried a $750,000 winners’ bonus for any horse that had contested The Everest, the Sydney Stakes or The Kosciuszko and went on to win the Yes Yes Yes, making it a $1.33m payday for the ownership group.
Trainer Gordon Richards paid just $40,000 for Gytrash (Lope de Vega) at the Premier Yearling Sale, where he was offered by Luke and Mags Anderson’s Maluka Thoroughbreds.
Richards was “so proud’’ of Gytrash, who was untried on a heavy track and the 1300m of the race prior to today.
“There were some question marks today but we also believed we had the best horse in the race and as things turned out, Jason (Collett) rode him to perfection and he got the job done,’’ Richards said.
“The horse has just done so well since he’s been in Sydney the past couple of months and I owe so much of this win to Clare Cunningham and Jason, who have looked after the horse so well.
“I also need to thank Inglis, they have looked after us so well and made us part of the family in The Everest campaign and I hope they can share in the celebrations of today’s win with us.’’
Meanwhile Fiesta (I Am Invincible) led in a trifecta of Inglis graduates in the G3 Furphy Sprint at Flemington, defeating Too Good Too Hard and Zaniah.
It was a second consecutive G3 success for the 2019 Inglis Sprint winner Fiesta, who also claimed the Northwood Plume Stakes three weeks ago.
Fiesta is a $150,000 Classic Yearling Sale buy for her trainer Chris Waller and Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds, from the draft of Fairhill Farm’s Mike and Debbie O’Donnell, who also bred the mare.
Today’s win took her earnings to almost $1.6m.
