Rarely has a victory so narrow made as big a statement as Orchestral’s thriller in the A$750,000 Vinery Stakes in Sydney on Saturday.
And it started a remarkable hour for Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood, who went on to win the A$500,000 Roy Higgins Stakes with Mark Twainat Flemington, earning him a spot in this year’s Melbourne Cup.
As good as he was, the star of the day was Orchestral, the New Zealand filly wearing down a brilliantly-ridden Tutta La Vita, who almost stole the Vinery at the 500m mark when Nash Rawiller launched a surprise attack for the lead and shot clear.
On her Australian debut after an unbeaten start to the year, Orchestral had plenty against her, as she wasn’t suited by the slow middle sectionals, was left flat-footed and then wobbled around the flat Rosehill final bend.
At the 250m, she looked in trouble, but as has been the case during her winning run here, she got stronger over the last 100m, and while she hit the lead only at the 30m mark, she won going away.
It was the victory of a special filly who showed she can now win ugly after a summer of winning pretty, but while it ticked the Australian Group 1 win box which will eventually be so important to her broodmare career, the win served another purpose.
It suggested she will be even harder to beat, maybe nearly impossible on that form, in the A$1 million ATC Oaks at Randwick on April 13, which looks certain to be her season’s grand final.
Jockey James McDonald was full of admiration for the courage Orchestral showed but also said she blew after the race, so she should be fitter for her first run in four weeks.
She will also be better suited by the step up to 2400m in the Oaks and, perhaps most importantly, will enjoy the wide open spaces of Randwick more than the Rosehill track, which was always going to be a test.
She deserves to be odds-on for the Oaks, with the hard-fought nature of her win on Saturday night suggesting a quick turnaround to next Saturday’s ATC Derby, or taking on the older horses in the Queen Elizabeth on April 13, are both unlikely.
The final decision on that won’t be confirmed until at least Monday but James and Wellwood look certain to stick to their original Oaks target.
While Orchestral’s win was expected, the dramatic victory of Mark Twain at Flemington wasn’t, and he has now set up the rest of his 2024, as he is guaranteed a Melbourne Cup start, a rarity for any New Zealand galloper these days.
Orchestral’s win wasn’t the only huge Kiwi success in Sydney, as Kalapour, owned by one of New Zealand’s biggest owner-breeders Lib Petagna, caused a huge upset in the A$1.5m Tancred Stakes.
But Legarto raced below her best in the Australian Cup, finishing sixth, and she will head to the spelling paddock.
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.
