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Source: anzbloodstocknews.com, by Trevor Marshallsea
Yulong is celebrating glorious validation for their years of massive thoroughbred investment after Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) produced a triumph for the ages in Saturday’s Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m).
Sold as a yearling in Britain for around $A10,000, and bought as a Group 1-winning racemare to compete under the Yulong banner for 2,700,000gns (approx $5.4 million) four years later, Via Sistina obliterated her eight rivals to score her fourth Australian top-flight win, in a style that had to be seen to be believed.
After travelling near the rear, the seven-year-old moved to the front with ease approaching the home turn, sweeping past the highly rated Japanese favourite Prognosis (Deep Impact) like he was a bush maiden, and streaked home to win Moonee Valley’s famed weight-for-age feature by an extraordinary eight lengths.
She matched Winx’s (Street Cry) record winning margin for the race but she didn’t settle for merely matching her record time – she annihilated that, too, clocking 2:01.07 – bettering Winx’s old race and track record of 2:02.94, roughly ten lengths, which was set in the third of her four Cox Plate wins in 2017.
And all this just four days after those heart-stopping scenes when Via Sistina became tangled in some loose bandage and gear at the Valley’s Breakfast With The Best trackwork session, and tossed jockey James McDonald out of the saddle, before bolting and running two-and-a-half laps of the track, or around 5000 metres.
Her trainer Chris Waller said after that incident his former warrior Rangirangdoo (Pentire) had pulled a similar stunt in the same week of 2009. Waller took him out of that Cox Plate, but when the horse recovered quickly he stuck him instead in the Crystal Mile (Gr 2, 1600m) on the undercard. Rangirangdoo won that by 3.5 lengths, also in record time.
Is Waller onto something here?
The celebrations were commensurate with the occasion, and the force of Via Sistina’s work in the $5 million feature.
Jockey James McDonald earned a $2,000 fine for his, rising to stand in the irons at the 50-metre mark then crossing the line bolt upright while whirring his free fist, yelling home his 100th Group 1 victory. Via Sistina might have won by 12 lengths if he’d taken it seriously. As it was, McDonald described it as “a Winx-like performance”.
And for Yulong, after Zhang Yuesheng’s many dozens of millions of dollars of investment in thoroughbreds and farms around the world in the past decade, the party was set to go long into the night after this, the enterprise’s most important race win.
“It was pretty special. The win was one for the ages. And to break a track record that’s held by the super mare Winx speaks volumes for her performance. It was stunning. Unbelievable,” Yulong general manager Vin Cox told ANZ Bloodstock News.
The win was one for the ages. And to break a track record that’s held by the super mare Winx speaks volumes for her performance
“It’s a huge result for Yulong. Mr Zhang and his family have put a lot of money into the industry, particularly here in Australia, and to win one of the majors is a phenomenal performance.
“It was great that Mr Zhang was here with his family and really enjoyed the day.
“It’s not only a great result for Yulong, it’s really a great result for the industry. It validates what Mr Zhang has been trying to do and trying to achieve.”
Asked if the win was the highlight of Yulong’s existence so far, Cox said since it was “one of the great races on the racing calendar worldwide, you’d have to say it is”.
Bred in Ireland but by British interests with the quintessentially English-sounding name of Laundry Cottage Stud, Via Sistina became yet another high-priced target for Yulong after taking her first top level win in the Curragh’s Pretty Polly Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) under the tutelage of Newmarket-based trainer George Boughey in July 2023.
She then won at the top tier on her Australian debut in Rosehill’s Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) in March, resumed this preparation with a sprint victory in the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), and added Flemington’s Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) to her CV before the Cox Plate.
“It’s easy for me to say she’s one of the greatest of all time but I’m a bit too close to the action. I’d prefer others make that judgement. We’re just thrilled she races in a green and white and can be so dominant in a race like that,” Cox said of the mare, who took her earnings past $6.7 million in becoming Fastnet Rock’s (Danehill) first Cox Plate winner in the first year of his retirement.
Cox said Via Sistina’s immediate future was uncertain. The $3 million Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Flemington on November 9, has often been a next step for Cox Plate winners, but Cox noted the mare was also still among nominations for the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) a week on Tuesday, and said “nothing’s being ruled out”.
Solid in betting at $5, Via Sistina led home $3.40 favourite Prognosis, with three-year-old colt Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) finishing on for third, ten lengths off the winner, at $6.50.
Second favourite Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) helped ensure the strong pace for Via Sistina’s record, but didn’t break out to the sort of distant lead seen from her through last season. Backing up a week after her 0.72 length second in Ceolwulf’s (Tavistock) ATC King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), Australia’s Horse of the Year stopped quickly when finishing a 15.8 length eighth, and looks well short of her autumn incarnation. Maher said after the race the Pride Of Jenni would now be spelled.
Waller was emotional, as always, after securing his fifth Cox Plate win to follow Winx’s quartet, and his 168th Group 1. He said after Via Sistina’s histrionics of Tuesday, a return to the track on Thursday had worked to “get her confidence back”.
“It was a big week but I’ve just had full support from the owners, my staff, all the team, Moonee Valley. It’s just been overwhelming,” he said, holding back tears.
“There’s not been any negativity, only positive vibes. I’m so proud of her.
“There’s probably ten key factors, and it’s not anything else except common sense, simple as that.
“We never lost faith and just just followed our instincts.”
McDonald was in awe of Via Sistina’s performance.
“What this mare’s been through, she’s just an absolute star. I’m so lucky to be part of it,” he said.
“She’s got an unbelievable sustained speed. And I think it’s a huge asset to have in this high-pressure race.
“The pressure was on from the get-go, and [Pride Of] Jenni didn’t have her peace. This horse has really worked really well here, even though I fell off her on Tuesday.
“She felt like she was gliding around the course really well and I had a quiet first half, and I wheeled her out, kept her happy.
“She seems just to grow a bit of confidence, and it was a Winx like performance. I can’t believe it.
“I honestly can’t believe it. I love this race. I love this place. And to win a Cox Plate with Chris Waller, who is my greatest supporter is so special. It’s so fitting he’s brought up my 100th and to do it in such a prestigious race like the Cox Plate. I’m blessed.”
Via Sistina is the fifth and very much the best of seven named foals for the unraced Nigh (Galileo). Suggesting major influence from Fastnet Rock in their mating during his shuttling career to Ireland, only one other of Nigh’s offspring has won, and that is Fougere (Bated Breath), who claimed only a Nottingham handicap in 19 starts.
Via Sistina is another example of Fastnet’s potency when crossed with daughters of Coolmore’s perennial breed-shaping sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), with the mare among the nicks 29 stakes winners and she is also one of 11 Group 1 bred on the cross.
The yearling Via Sistina was sold by agent Jamie Railton to Stephen Hillen Bloodstock for just £5,000 from Book 3 of Tattersalls’ October Yearling Sale in 2019. From those inauspicious beginnings, she was bought by Evergreen Equine at Tattersalls’ December Mares Sale last year for 2,700,000gns, from the draft of Ireland’s Grove Stud.
Damian Lane doffed his cap to the mare after being beaten into second on seven-year-old stallion Prognosis.
“I was confident coming down the side I was going to be a winning chance but Via Sistina was just in another class today. She was way too good today,” he said.