The 2024 Caulfield Guineas didn’t go as planned for a number of horses with jockey Damian Lane taking control to go to the front early and lead all-the-way aboard the Chris Waller-trained Private Life in the $3 million feature while the short-priced favourite Broadsiding ran fourth.
Waller celebrated his third win in the 144th edition of the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
His two earlier champions had been well-backed favourites with Press Statement in 2015 and The Autumn Sun in 2018.
It was a different story for his third success in the stallion-making mile classic in 2024 with Private Life only rated a $13 shot in the day’s feature.
The nicely bred son of Written Tycoon jumped from barrier five with Lane getting to the front after settling and never relinquishing the lead aboard the progressive and promising colt who now has a Group 1 win on his CV.
“It’s obviously a race with great prestige,” Lane told the media post-win.
“I’ve been close a few times, so to win one is great. And just to repay a bit of faith in Chris Waller, Charlie Duckworth, and the ownership group is a big thrill.”
Stable representative Charlie Duckworth was quick to credit the front running ride from Lane despite being in front not being the plan.
“No, it certainly wasn’t (the plan to lead),” he said.
“When you put these world-class jockeys on like Damian, who obviously was successful for us only seven days ago at this elite level, you’ve got to leave a little bit to them, but ultimately the idea was to just try and settle around midfield.
“But he began so well, Damian must have taken it into his own hands and to his credit, he’s played an absolute masterstroke. So, full credit to Damien, he does plenty of homework.
“He came here to gallop on Tuesday as Joao Moreira in his first up run just mentioned that he took a little bit of time to balance around the Caulfield turn, so that’s why we brought him back here for a gallop.
“Damian was on that morning and he’s on again today and it’s amazing. Obviously, these stallion syndicates are unbelievable.
“They’re pumping a lot of money into the game, but they need to get results, and they’ve certainly got a good result today.”
Private Life won the Caulfield Guineas by a neck at just his sixth start improving on a lead-up fourth when under a length beaten by Angel Capital in the Prelude.
“We’ve always maintained that he’s a good horse,” Duckworth added.
“I know at the start of the preparation, I think he won a benchmark sixty four at Warwick Farm and now he’s just won a Caulfield Guineas.
“But look, we’ve had faith in the horse. We haven’ t lost that. And the team at home and Coolmore themselves, they just do a fantastic job to get them here in one piece. So, yeah, it’s pretty exciting.”
James Cummings‘ three-time Group 1 winner Broadsiding off a lead-up Golden Rose victory was the odds-on favourite to make it a fourth elite level success heading south for the Caulfield Guineas.
The Too Darn Hot colt, ridden by James McDonald, was in the back half of the field throughout and never looked a winning hope but managed to work his way through and make up some ground to cross 1.25 lengths fourth.
The Kiwi-bred Super Seth gelding Feroce ($51) off an on-speed run throughout ran out of his skin trying hard to run down the winner before eventually placing a brave second in his trainer Dominic Sutton‘s first Group 1 race.
Rounding out the Caulfield Guineas trifecta in third was the Team Hayes-trained Evaporate ($17) who has come from a Cranbourne maiden at the start of August to win the Group 2 Stutt Stakes last start then run a place in one of the country’s great mile races.
2024 Caulfield Guineas Results & Finishing Order
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | PRIVATE LIFE | Chris Waller | Damian Lane | 5 | 57kg | $13 | ||
| 2 | 8 | FEROCE (NZ) | Dominic Sutton | Billy Egan | 0.15L | 2 | 57kg | $51 | |
| 3 | 3 | EVAPORATE (NZ) | Ben, Will & JD Hayes | Michael Dee | 0.9L | 8 | 57kg | $17 | |
| 4 | 1 | BROADSIDING | James Cummings | James McDonald | 1.25L | 9 | 57kg | $1.80F | |
| 5 | 7 | PUBLIC ATTENTION (NZ) | Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) | Ethan Brown | 2.75L | 4 | 57kg | $21 | |
| 6 | 4 | ANGEL CAPITAL | Clinton McDonald | Ben Melham | 3.75L | 7 | 57kg | $7 | |
| 7 | 10 | VIANARRA | Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young | Jamie Mott | 4.21L | 11 | 57kg | $201 | |
| 8 | 9 | TROPICUS | Anthony & Sam Freedman | Mark Zahra | 4.31L | 1 | 57kg | $18 | |
| 9 | 2 | RUE DE ROYALE (NZ) | Tony & Calvin McEvoy | John Allen | 5.81L | 6 | 57kg | $101 | |
| 10 | 6 | WANARUAH | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Jye McNeil | 7.06L | 3 | 57kg | $21 | |
| 11 | 5 | MAYFAIR | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Blake Shinn | 27.06L | 10 | 57kg | $8 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
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