Lara Antipova wins Sistema Stakes and Australian challenge now beckons

Lara Antipova and Mick Dee take out the Group 1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie on Saturday. Photo / Kenton Wright

Lara Antipova’s star continues to rise, with the filly extending her unbeaten streak to four when winning Saturday’s Group 1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie.

Visiting hoop Mick Dee gave her the perfect trip throughout in the one-one position, and while she was awkward rounding the final bend with Liguria trying to advance inside her, she showed her talent once balancing up and made light work of her opposition. She eventually ran out a one-and-three-quarters length victor over Liguria, with fellow Cambridge Stud representative State Of Valour a further long head back in third.

“She made my job easy, she is certainly well educated,” Dee said. “She jumped clean and the speed was on. We were able to land in the one-one position and she did the rest.

“I had the eventual second horse try to come in underneath us on the turn and she just didn’t get around the corner 100%. She won the race once she quickened up. She had a good look around, I feel there is plenty left in the tank.”

With a record of four wins from four starts in New Zealand, including the Group 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) and Group 2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson are now keen on testing Lara Antipova’s talent across the Tasman and said she will join their Cranbourne barn in the coming weeks.

“We think she is up to Australian class and we look forward to getting her to Melbourne,” Walker said.

“There’s a race down the straight [Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, 1200m, at Flemington], it will either be that at the end of this month or maybe the Percy Sykes [Group 2, 1200m] in Sydney. It will be good to give her a look at the Melbourne stable with a view to the Coolmore [Group 1, 1200m] in the spring.”

The stable was runner-up in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) two years ago with fellow Fortuna Racing filly Bellatrix Star, and Walker said Lara Antipova shares similar qualities to her stable predecessor.

“Her form stacks up with Bellatrix Star, who John and Jessica [Galvin, Fortuna Racing] raced,” Walker said. “She is every bit as good as she was.”

The daughter of Russian Revolution was purchased by Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis, in conjunction with Fortuna Racing, for A$100,000 out of Vinery Stud’s 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft.

Her prominence extends the run of success the two entities have shared over the past few years, which includes the likes of 14-time Group 1 winner Melody Belle and Group 1 performer Bellatrix Star.

“She is exciting and it is great for John Galvin and his team,” Walker said. “Well done to David Ellis, that’s the seventh winner of the race that he has bought, that’s an incredible record.”

– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk