Group 1 owner and breeder Alan Bell relived some halcyon days when his Vinery Stud graduate English Riviera won the MRC Thoroughbred Club Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
On a Caulfield Guineas meeting to remember, English Riviera (Deep Field) played her part with a fearless victory from a wide gate to deny Mumbai Jewel (I Am Invincible) and La Danseuse Rouge (Manhattan Rain).
“She’s a quality filly and not much was going right for her today,” co-trainer Tony McEvoy said. “We have several options including the Group 1 Coolmore at Flemington. She goes well down the straight and I’ve had a bit of luck with fillies in the that race.” McEvoy trained Sunlight (Zoustar) to complete the double in 2018.
English Riviera was bred and sold by Bell for $260,000 through Vinery (as agent) at the 2021 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale to a partnership comprising Seymour Bloodstock’s Darren Thomas, KCC Racing and Gary Lechte.
She had been placed in the MRC Blue Diamond Prelude (Gr.2, 1100m) and MVRC Champagne Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m) before the black-type breakthrough. Her NZ-bred dam Second Time Lucky (Any Suggestion) won a Welcome Stakes LR at Riccarton and her latest foal is a yearling filly by American Pharoah (USA).
Bell raced her sire Deep Field (Northern Meteor) and his grey & red diagonal striped silks have also been worn by Schillaci, Grand Armee, Primacy and Star Turn whose stud career is off to a flying start at Vinery.
Star Turn was a $400,000 yearling and Bell was hooked at first glance. “It was 2015 and he was a standout at the Gold Coast Magic Millions. John Hawkes said he was special and he won first-up as a spring 2yo at Randwick.
“He came back at three and defeated the Golden Slipper winner in the San Domenico. Then he went down to Melbourne and defeated older horses at weight-for-age in the Schillaci Stakes. That was obviously a big thrill for me and he kept dancing every dance while some other colts had already been retired to stud.
“The timing was just right when Vinery came in with an offer to stand him at stud. Vinery believed he was a proper horse and an exciting stallion prospect, just like me.”
Star Turn (Star Witness) has lived up to that level of expectation and more with five Stakes winners in his first two crops. He commenced this season with a raft of winners topped by a national-best four-timer on October 3. His Group 1-winning mare Startantes has stayed in Sydney for the postponed $1million Silver Eagle (1300m) at Randwick this Saturday.
Star Turn’s Stakes-winning success in Hong Kong (Cordyceps Six) and Singapore (Golden Monkey) will attract off-shore buyers to his two colts and two fillies at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale at Riverside Stables on Tuesday. His colts have been catalogued by Blake Ryan Racing (Lot 23) and KBL Thoroughbreds (220) and his fillies by A List Stud (22) and Ryan (244).
Headwater has five Vinery-conceived colts including the Madame Zara (Lot 240) prepared by Ballarat-based Tyler Aitken. “He broke 11s and did it well,” Sam Payne said after breezing him at Seymour. “Tyler has him going good physically and mentally and he feels a quality product.”
