Established superstar Mr Brightside might have been the best horse in the $750,000 Group I MRC CF Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday, but it’s hard to triumph over fate and destiny with the stars aligning for the Ciaron Maher trained Street Boss (USA) gelding Another Wil.
The five year-old has always shown glimmers of G1 potential and this time last year made a rapid rise through the grades from Benchmark 64 class to winning the Group III ATC Doncaster Prelude before finishing seventh to Celestial Legend in the Group I ATC Doncaster Handicap.
He won several stakes races in the spring and closed out with a second in the Group I MRC Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes with Maher selecting the CF Orr for his return and he was well primed to take on Mr Brightside with mnounting yard expert Amy Yargi noting his fitness for the task and tipping him on top.
Ridden by his regular pilot Jamie Kah, who is now Melham following her marriage to fellow jockey Ben Melham, Another Wil did exactly what he had always promised to do when hunting down Mr Brightside to win by half a length.
Another Wil is a homebred for the late Colin McKenna and was foaled and raised on their farm and sports his blue and lime green colours. He has the overall record of nine wins from 14 starts with prizemoney topping $1.5million.
“It's beautiful. I think it's the first one that Col and Janice bred, so to win a Group 1 is very, very special,” said Ciaron Maher.
"Colin always loved this horse in particular. I've resisted the temptation to take him to that top level because he's needed time to mature and Col was always very patient and it's probably not fitting that he can't be here.
"He just would have been so thrilled, but I'm pretty proud and he's just such a great mentor and friend and supporter. It's just beautiful.
"It's great for Janice and all his friends and family. He always included everyone and a lot of them are in the horse and Jamie, she was very close to him as well. They were big supporters of hers through tough times, so it's phenomenal.”
Another Wil will look to target further Group I races up to a mile through the autumn.
“He'll just go through the weight-for-age path. We'll see what sort of weight he gets up in Sydney as to the big miles up there, but we'll celebrate this one and he's got plenty of options now,” Maher said.
"The All-Star Mile seems like a natural progression for him and he's got good form at Flemington as well, so the All-Star seems fitting as well."
Jamie Melham was thrilled to get the job done.
“I thought about this day, I dreamed about it the last few days, but it's amazing that things like this happen in racing,” she said.
"There's a God in racing…this horse has deserved it for so many starts, but to do it for Col after his birthday on Tuesday is just amazing.
"I know he's watching down on us and Another Wil lifted for his dad. That was amazing."
Another Wil is a half-brother to stakes-placed Wahine Toa and is one of four winners from two time winning Bianconi (USA) mare Arohanui, who died in 2021. She was actually bought as a yearling at Inglis Premier by Ciaron Maher way back in 2010 for $30,000.
Stakes-winners are hard to come by in this family and you need to go back to the fourth dam to find Alf, the Champion NZ 2YO of his year, who came to Sydney and won the Group I AJC Sires Produce Stakes in 1998.
Another Wil is the tenth Group I winner for Darley shuttler Street Boss (USA), most famous as the sire of Australian Horse of the Year Anamoe.
