Written by Paul Vettise
Sensational stallion Deep Impact (JPN) (Sunday Silence {IRE}) lived up to his name at Randwick on Boxing Day where he was the dominant force in the feature event on the card.
Shadai’s breed-shaper had two representatives in the G3 Summer Cup and the imported duo were the stars of the show with the Matthew Smith-trained Fierce Impact (JPN) proving superior to Chris Waller’s Satono Rasen (JPN).
The former has been widely-travelled and broke his maiden in England where he was stakes placed from David Simcox’s yard before his sale to Australia.
He struck second-up from Smith’s yard and has been genuine since, including a respectable eighth placing in the G1 Toorak H. during the spring.
“It’s great for the owners, who have been very patient with him.” - Colum McCullagh.
“It’s great for the owners, who have been very patient with him,” Smith’s Racing Manager Colum McCullagh said.
“These Northern Hemisphere horses can take time to acclimatise and settle in so it’s a credit to all the team.”
Fierce Impact was ably handled by Corey Brown, who tucked him in on the fence and made all the right moves in the straight.
“Corey gave him a peach of a ride and the plan was not to get too far back.” - Colum McCullagh.
“Corey gave him a peach of a ride and the plan was not to get too far back,” McCullagh said.
Deep Impact
Brown was having his first ride on the 5-year-old, but had guided him to a lead-up trial win over 1200 metres on the track earlier in the month.
“He got to the front very early in the trial and idles along and thinks the job is done,” he said.
“I held on to him as long as I could this time and then set him alight at the 300.
“Everything went to plan, the speed was good and I’d noticed in previous runs he’d had to work hard or got too far back. We had a soft run and he did it well.”
Indifferent displays
One of six runners in the race for Waller, Satono Rasen turned in an encouraging run after patchy form since his arrival in Australia.
The winner of the G2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai and runner-up in Japan’s G1 Japanese Derby, the 7-year-old finished fourth in the G2 Hollindale S. and seventh in the G1 Doomben Cup in the autumn but his previous four appearances before Saturday were inglorious.
He had been well below par, but on Saturday he was ridden aggressively to lead by Jason Collett and showed heart to fight on for second.
Earlier in the programme, Satono Rasen’s stablemate Zalatte (NZ) set up a memorable day for breeders Blandford Lodge, whose graduate Danzdanzdance (NZ) (Mastercracftsman {IRE}) won the G1 Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie, when she remained undefeated after claiming the TAB H.
In her third appearance for Waller, she beat stablemate Welsh Legend (Camelot {GB}) with both fillies signing off for the summer.
“I think they are both up to Group class so we’ll be looking at the autumn with them.” – Chris Waller.
“I think they are both up to Group class so we’ll be looking at the autumn with them,” Waller said.
“Zalatte gets the accolades, but the second horse was brave and they’re both good fillies.”
Zalatte
Zalatte was ridden by James McDonald, who will be keen to continue his association with the 3-year-old in the future.
“She showed great fight to win that race and I was on a very good horse.”
Zalatte was bought out of Blandford’s Karaka draft for NZ$300,000 and is a daughter of the Zabeel (NZ) mare Za Star (NZ), who is from the family of the three-time Group 1 winner Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Savabeel).
