Benagil Delivers Emotional Australasian Oaks Victory

Eight years after his first two, West Australian-based stallion Manhattan Rain has a third group 1 winner after Benagil brought an emotional first solo top-level success for trainer Glen Thompson in the Australasian Oaks (G1) April 26 at Morphettville. Two months after the death of his more senior training partner Mike Moroney, Thompson cheered home Benagil as she stormed from near the tail of the field to record a commanding 1.29-length victory as $3.10 favorite (All figures AU$). The Busuttin-Young trained Sweltering showed the versatility of her in-demand Darley stallion in taking second, almost providing a bookmakers' dream at $201. The O'Shea-Charlton stable's Polymnia was centimeters back in third place, at $4.60. Manhattan Rain, winner of the 2009 AJC Sires' Produce Stakes (G1), retired to stud the following year and had to wait until 2017 for his first group 1 success. It was at least an important one, with She Will Reign taking the Golden Slipper (G1), before adding the Moir Stakes (G1) the following spring. In the same year, Manhattan Rain's son Whisky Baron scored a top-tier victory in South Africa, in the Metropolitan Stakes (G1). Having begun stud duties at Arrowfield before moving to Victoria's Blue Gum Farm, Manhattan Rain was transferred to WA's Geisel Park in 2022, where he stood last year for $8,250. Benagil—winner of Caulfield's $500,000 Vobis Guineas two starts ago before finishing 1.22 lengths behind the outstanding Treasurethe Moment in Rosehill's Vinery Stud Stakes (G1)—becomes the 19th black-type winner worldwide for her 18-year-old father. The filly was bred in partnership by Victoria's Blue Gum Farm a year before Phillip Campbell sold the stud to Trilogy in 2022. She was retained to race by Campbell and his co-breeders. The middle leg of a stakes treble for jockey Mark Zahra, and at his first ride on the filly, Benagil was taken back from barrier 13 of 16 to settle third last. She would benefit from a strong pace set by the Waterhouse and Bott-trained Too Darn Lizzie, the $5.50 third-elect, with close company from Team Hayes's $8.50 chance Cinch, who went forward from gate 15. That pair ultimately weakened to finish tenth and last, respectively. Benagil cruised towards the leaders before the turn and powered to the front at the 200-meter mark, the race in her keeping a long way from home. The victory was an immense boost for Thompson, who has branched out on his own following his training partner's death and the closure of Moroney's Ballymore Stables, with most horses under its umbrella transferred to the Hayes brothers' Lindsay Park. Campbell and his co-owners stuck with Thompson, who has some 55 horses on his books at his Flemington stable, and they were celebrating group 1 glory Saturday. "It's been a tough few weeks, but I just tried to focus on today," Thompson said. "We just got her here in as good an order as we could. I thought she was spot-on today, and she raced like it. "She's just gone to another level this time." Charm Stone Grabs Her First Group 1 in the Sangster Brilliant but unlucky mare Charm Stone repaid $1.55 million worth of faith from bloodstock buyer Sheamus Mills by storming to elite-level glory in Saturday's Robert Sangster Stakes (G1) at Morphettville. Despite being moderately rated for the fillies and mares' WFA sprint as an $11 chance, the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr-trained 4-year-old flew home from the rear to win by 0.37 lengths under Mark Zahra. Anthony and Sam Freedman's 3-year-old Ameena earned a group 1-placing in coming second at $15, as did Godolphin filly Commemorative, who was third as one of three $6.50 equal favorites in an open affair. Co-favorites Stretan Angel and last year's winner Climbing Star, both from the Phillip Stokes stable, finished ninth and 12th, respectively. And in becoming the 17th group 1 winner for Yarraman Park's triple champion sire I Am Invincible—in Australia's only 1,200-meter (about 6 furlongs) contest group 1 for fillies and mares—Charm Stone brought the sweetest reward after a long and at times torturous journey for managing owner Mills and her trainers. With his $1.55 million outlay, Mills made the Emirates Park-bred Charm Stone the highest-priced filly—and third top overall—at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale of 2022. Charm Stone lived up to that rating almost immediately by taking Flemington's Ottawa Stakes (G3) at her second start, before Zahra's first involvement brought a disappointing sixth as $2.15 favorite in the fillies' Blue Diamond Prelude (G2).