Chris Waller’s Aeliana storms to ATC Derby victory at Randwick

• Aeliana, trained by Chris Waller, won the ATC Derby at Randwick with a five-length victory.
• Willydoit finished fourth and will now be trained by Ciaron Maher in Australia.
• Bjorn Baker’s Stefi Magnetica won the A$4 million Doncaster, ridden by Jason Collett.

By Michael Guerin at Randwick.

A Kiwi won the ATC Derby at Randwick on Saturday, but not the one many New Zealand punters were yelling for.

Heavily backed filly Aeliana, trained by New Zealand champion trainer Chris Waller, who now dominates Sydney racing, bolted to a five-length win in the classic as New Zealand Derby winner Willydoit fought bravely for fourth. Willydoit was midfield, three-wide with cover for most of the 2400m, and while he strode forward at the 600m, Aeliana, who was smashed into $2.15, took off in front of him and was gone.

Willydoit will now head to the spelling paddock and stay in Australia to be trained by Ciaron Maher next season.

Heavily-backed filly Aeliana bolted to a five-length win in the classic.

While trained by Waller in Sydney, Aeliana was bred in New Zealand by Rich Hill Stud and sold at the Karaka yearling sale for $180,000.

Willydoit’s fourth capped a largely luckless day for New Zealand-trained horses at Randwick, with Golden Century a respectable seventh in the Derby while Mustang Morgan was well beaten.

But another ex-pat trainer in Bjorn Baker claimed one of the jewels of the day, training Stefi Magnetica to win the A$4 million Doncaster, ridden by another Kiwi in jockey Jason Collett.

Baker was narrowly denied a Group 1 double with his rep Overpass was nosed out by Briasa in the A$3m T J Smith, in which Cambridge Stud-owned mare Joliestar struggled when forced to take an inside gap on what was probably the wrong part of the track.

Earlier in the day, Kiwi-bred Evaporate bolted away with his Group 3 race in his first start since finishing second in the NZB Kiwi on March 8.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.