The Neds Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (G1) was arguably as much about the winning jockey, Victorian journeyman Daniel Moor, as it was about the horse, a rapidly improving 5-year-old mare by Darci Brahma in Sierra Sue.
Moor was overcome with emotion in the immediate aftermath of his first Australian group 1 victory in the saddle, taking a minute in silence with the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Sierra Sue as company prior to returning to scale.
The achievement for Moor, who celebrated his 37th birthday Sept. 18, in a signature Caulfield spring race, was an important milestone for the hard-working rider who returned from a stint in Singapore last year.
"It's just a life's work here. I rode a group 1 winner in Mauritius but it's pretty easy to forget about those ones," Moor said.
"You watch people win good races and they get emotional, you think, 'bloody hell, they're softies,' but it hit me a bit there."
While it was ecstasy for Moor it was anguish for Nick Ryan, a former champion Melbourne apprentice jockey, after runner-up Dice Roll almost provided the trainer with a maiden group 1 win, but just as he was being hailed the winner, Sierra Sue lunged to score by a nose.
I'm Thunderstruck charged home for third in a performance that would have seen him lose few admirers in his first start since July 31, a campaign which netted him three wins from four runs. He was heavily backed to start as the favorite in the race and from the outside barrier (16) jockey Jye McNeil was forced back to last.
Sierra Sue's turnaround in form has been stark. She had been unplaced in seven consecutive starts in three states, New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, before Busuttin and Young made a successful trip to the far north west of Victoria for the bet365 Mildura Cup.
Upon her return to Melbourne, she was able to win the P.B. Lawrence Stakes (G2) before being badly held up in the Clamms Seafood Feehan Stakes (G2) at Moonee Valley Sept. 4 with John Allen in the saddle.
"We weren't going to be held up from that gate (barrier 10)," Moor said.
"When the draw came out, I was happy. I saw Probabeel and Behemoth drew in and I knew they would need luck.
"With 52.5 kilograms on our back we could make our own and it panned out that way. She dug in deep for me, I'm so proud of the mare."
Busuttin revealed if things had gone to plan at Moonee Valley and Sierra Sue had won the Feehan she probably would have been heading to next Saturday's Underwood Stakes (G1).
"If she won the Feehan she would have gone to the Underwood and I think she would have run well against Zaaki," Busuttin said.
"The team, Trent Murphy, and everyone who rides the horse have done a fantastic job and it's good to win another big group 1 like this."
The Empire Rose Stakes (G1) at Flemington on Victoria Derby Day is the likely carnival finale for the mare, although the inaugural AU$2 million The Invitational in Sydney, for fillies and mares, is not off the table completely despite border restrictions posing a problem for trainers.
McNeil was rueing what could have been for I'm Thunderstruck after an interrupted run home in the Caulfield straight.
He said: "He performed really well. Just copped a bit of interference in the straight which probably cost him the race, but he ran fantastic."
The Toorak Handicap (G1) at Caulfield Oct. 9 is I'm Thunderstruck's likely next start ahead of the AU$7.5 million Golden Eagle three weeks later.
Fourth-placed Aysar went some way to justifying Victorian stud farm Leneva Park's decision to buy the 4-year-old entire from Shadwell before his current preparation with his gallant effort, finishing just one length behind the winner.
"He ran out of his skin. He had a real crack, too. He did a good job and he's knocking on the door for one of these races when run to suit him," jockey Harry Coffey said of the Ben and J.D. Hayes-trained sprinter-miler.
In-form jockey Brett Prebble described the run of fifth-placed Probabeel as "a fraction disappointing."
"She didn't jump as fast as I would have liked. (She) didn't muster the speed I wanted and didn't give me a kick in the straight when we got the hole," Prebble said.
"She's run well, probably beaten three-quarters of a length, (but) just not what I was hoping for."
Moet & Chandon Memsie Stakes (G1) winner Behemoth was sixth.
Bred by John Fokerd, Sierra Sue was sold out of Ardsley Stud's 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock May Sale draft for $2,000 (US$1,308) to Te Aroha trainer Peter Lock. Incredibly, she was sold as a broken-in 2-year-old, one of a handful of older offerings in the May sale.
A barrier trial winner in New Zealand for Lock, Sierra Sue was purchased privately by a prominent group of Australian owners, headed by Ozzie Kheir through bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo.
"I've been lucky enough to source some good horses for Australia over the years, I've been doing it for a while now," said Cataldo, who incidentally also sourced I'm Thunderstruck for OTI Racing and trainers Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr.
"I put in the hard yards and sometimes it turns into results. I bought Serra Sue after she won a trial at Te Aroha in impressive fashion. She looked well above average that day and by coincidence I was talking to Trent Busuttin that morning.
"I had heard a bit about Sierra Sue, there was good talk on her. She was having her first trial and I mentioned to him that there was a promising Darci Brahma filly trialing that day.
"He said if she goes well, give us a call and that is how it unfolded. She won impressively and I rang Trent who bought her for Ozzie Kheir.
"It has been an excellent training performance by Trent and Natalie and she is really firing this campaign."
Sierra Sue's dam Centree (Centaine) is now owned by Ardsley Stud and she was due to foal to Mongolian Khan before being reunited with Darci Brahma this season.
Verry Elleegant Wins Ninth Group 1
The Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1) is firmly on the agenda for Kiwi mare Verry Elleegant and a probable clash with exciting European import Zaaki in Australia's premier weight for age championship after a determined performance in the Fujitsu General George Main Stakes (G1).
Saturday's win at Randwick, her ninth at group 1 level and trainer Chris Waller's 500th stakes victory, came on the back of a first-up second in the Winx Stakes (G1) Aug. 21 which was taken out by Mo'unga.
Verry Elleegant was forced back to the inside fence in order to chase down leader Riodini and she let down brilliantly when asked for an effort by jockey James McDonald. She put three-quarters of a length on a game Riodini at the finish while Think It Over, who was caught three wide for the trip, rallied for third, a half-head away.
"She is a good horse, simple as that. She is a difficult horse to train and the team, as I've mentioned before today, just do a wonderful job with her and all the other horses," Waller said.
"I'm here getting the accolades for it on race day but it is an honor to train a horse like this. If she doesn't win group 1s she runs second in them over all distances on all track conditions. That is a rare commodity."
McDonald admitted to thinking Riodini may have established a winning break before the home turn.
"When I looked up at the 500 (meters) and Riodini had shot clear I thought, geez, it's going to take a mighty horse to run her down," McDonald said.
"Both Think It Over and Verry Elleegant went together but she pulls out all the stops, this horse. She's just tough as nails.
"She was pretty cranky today, though. I was a little bit worried with her going around (to the barriers). She was quite cantankerous and wanting to get on with it.
"Once I jumped a little bit slow, I didn't have many options, to be fair. I just let it unfold as it went."
Verry Elleegant ran down the field in the 2019 Cox Plate behind Japanese mare Lys Gracieux but connections chose to avoid the Moonee Valley 2,040-meter race in favor of Caulfield Cup (G1)-Melbourne Cup (G1) campaign last year. She won the Caulfield Cup and was seventh in the Melbourne Cup.
While the Cox Plate appeals as the 6-year-old mare's main aim in 2021, Waller wouldn't dismiss a second attempt at a Melbourne Cup.
"Hopefully she will get to a Cox Plate, (but I am) yet to decide where her next run will be," he said.
"Whether it will be in Sydney in two weeks in the Hill Stakes (G2), which is obviously on our radar, or if not there then it could be the Turnbull (G1) before the Cox Plate and who knows after that."
Verry Elleegant has been under Waller's watchful eye for 2 1/2 years after four starts with Darren Weir who had taken over training after winning two of her three starts in New Zealand in 2018. Agent Andrew Williams negotiated a private deal to see her brought to Australia.
Despite winning nine group 1s since joining Waller's stable, the champion trainer says she has taken more than her fair share of attention to ensure she performs on race day.
"On her constitution, she wouldn't eat as well as we liked. It was a nightmare just trying to get her to each race," he said.
"As we all do, she has strengthened up as an older horse and mentally she is a lot better. So that tells us that she is enjoying her racing and it all comes hand in hand."
Rachel King was rapt with Riodini's brave effort and predicted he would be hard to beat at his next outing in the Epsom Handicap (G1), while Nash Rawiller was likewise full of praise for Think It Over, who was forced to camp wide for much of the race.
"We didn't get any real favors in the run. To the horse's credit, he traveled really well and it was a very good effort," Rawiller said.
Bred in New Zealand by Don Goodwin, Verry Elleegant is almost single-handedly reviving the stallion career of the now Grangewilliam Stud-based Zed, also the sire of group 1 winner Survived and 13 other stakes winners.
She is one of four winners for Opulence (Danroad), who has an unraced Zed 3-year-old named Affluential under the ownership of Western Australian owner Bob Peters, as well as a 2-year-old full brother to Verry Elleegant and she is also set to foal this season to the same stallion.
