'It's scary how good she is' - Via Sistina equals Winx's record season with seventh Group 1 success

Via Sistina equalled Winx's record of seven Group 1 victories in one season with another dominant display in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, as the British-trained Dubai Honour finished second.

Via Sistina was a top-level winner of the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh when trained by George Boughey in Newmarket before being bought for 2,700,000gns to race in Australia after her fine second to King Of Steel in the 2023 Champion Stakes. The seven-year-old proved an instant success with victory in the Ranvet Stakes but has gone from strength to strength this campaign.

The evens favourite appeared to be short of room in a bunched field turning for home under James McDonald at Randwick yet surged into the lead when a gap finally appeared to win comfortably.

Her seven Group 1 victories include success over seven furlongs at the start of the season and takes her total career haul to £6.6 million.

Waller said: "She just keeps turning up every week. I'd like to have a few more like her and we have, we've got a great team, but she just shows the difference between a good horse and a champion.

"She's a big, big horse and she's quite scary really. We don't ask her too much at home, we just hold it together and know that it's there raceday.

"You're looking for them to sprint, and when she sprints, the acceleration is there. We're still getting to know her, it's as simple as that, and she's well into her twilight years. It's scary how good she is."

Dubai Honour finished a length and three quarters behind in second on Tom Marquand's final ride in Australia before heading home. The William Haggas-trained seven-year-old won the Group 1 Tancred Stakes just 11 days ago.

Marquand said:  "He's run a huge race in defeat and was beaten by a good mare. He had a horrible run round but whether it would have been enough to turn it around, I don’t know."

Elsewhere at Randwick, the Rachel King-ridden Arapaho landed the Sydney Cup and was cut to 25-1 with Unibet for the Melbourne Cup.

Via Sistina's remarkable season

August 24: Returned from a 133-day break to win the Winx Stakes at Randwick over seven furlongs, the shortest trip she has ever won over. She needed every yard of it too, with plenty on her plate approaching the final furlong only to get up in the shadow of the post under Kerrin McEvoy.

October 5: Seemed to get stuck in the mud in heavy ground at Flemington following her winning return, but bounced back on good to soft at the same course to win the Turnbull Stakes bravely by a head from Buckaroo under Damian Lane.

October 26: Picked up the biggest pot of her campaign when leaving the opposition for dead in the Cox Plate under James McDonald, with eight easy lengths back to Prognosis in second.

November 9: McDonald stayed on Via Sistina for her third Group 1 win in five weeks, this time back at Flemington in the Champions Stakes. Odds-on backers had little to worry about as she travelled powerfully and asserted with the minimum of fuss entering the final furlong to cap an outstanding spring.

March 1: Defeated on her February return after 98 days off, but quickly picked up the winning trail again in the Verry Elleegant Stakes at Randwick. She got first run on Fangirl but had to knuckle down under McDonald to hold on by a neck.

March 22: Via Sistina had just five runners to beat in the Ranvet Stakes, back at Randwick and over her ideal trip of ten furlongs. She produced a dominant display to win by a length and a half.

April 12: Equalled Winx's record of seven Group 1s in a season, surging to the front after a gap appeared to get the better of British-raider Dubai Honour.

Asfoora makes triumphant return at Morphettville

By Kitty Trice

Last year’s King Charles III Stakes heroine Asfoora made a winning return to action in Australia with a comfortable success in the RN Irwin Stakes at Morphettville, writes Kitty Trice.  

The daughter of Flying Artie had landed her maiden Group 1 success at Royal Ascot last June and was winning her sixth Pattern contest overall here. It was her first start since her stint in Europe last year. 

Now a six-year-old, the talented mare pulled half a length clear of Sghirripa, with Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale-bound Climbing Star a neck back in third. 

Trainer Henry Dwyer said of his stable star: "You're always a little bit nervous when you haven't seen them for six months. We thought she looked terrific, and she was going well, but they've just got to be a bit rusty, you'd think.

"When they've had so much travel and so much going on in their life, you always wonder whether they'll come back, especially a mare – they switch off pretty quick. But the signs are good now. It was a lovely ride by Mitch [Aitken] and it's just great to have her back in winning form.”

Asfoora will now head to the Sangster Stakes at Morphettville, where she will bid to tackle her first Group 1 on Australian soil before another tilt at Royal Ascot.

Dwyer added: "She's got a big challenge, trying to get 1,200 metres next time, but she's certainly got a bit of improvement in her too, so fingers crossed she can do it."

Asfoora’s European campaign in 2024 began with a fourth in the Temple Stakes at Haydock, a run that preceded her fairytale Royal Ascot success.

Following Ascot, she came a desperately close second in the King George Stakes at Goodwood before another fourth place in the Nunthorpe at York three weeks later.

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