Chris Waller‘s brilliant mare, Fangirl, was arrogant the closing stages easily accounting for her rivals with an impressive $1 million 7 Stakes (1600m) win ahead of her title defence in the 2024 King Charles III Stakes.
The now six-year-old daughter of Sebring atoned for her third in the inaugural running of the now 7+ Sport Stakes last year when saluting for favourite backers in dominant fashion at Royal Randwick second-up as the $1.75 odds-on fancy.
Improving off her close third fresh in the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m), Fangirl won back the love of the punters under another gun ride by the master James McDonald.
“She’s so good. I wasn’t pleased with the position we’re in today,” McDonald said after his ride on the 7 Stakes winner.
“I was looking up, and I was saying, ‘Zougotcha…. Oh! Royal Patronage, beautiful! That was the only saving grace, but in saying that she still had to do it the hard way.
“We’ve all come to realise that she’s one-dimensional, so we all know where she’s going to be, and I think Chris (Waller) and I, we put our heads together, and obviously we’re going to ride her to her strengths, which we’ve obviously nailed down.
“The last prep when she came back, she won like Winxs, so you start riding accordingly. She’s not Winx, so we have to come back a notch and ride her properly, but she should have won the Winx Stakes, there’s no two ways about that and that wasn’t her fault. She was set too much of a task.
“Today, smaller field, it’s going to work out alright but again, the next race we’re going to have to come up with a bit more.”
From the outside draw in the mile feature, McDonald let Fangirl settle back last in running as 60/1 pop Major Beel led the field around at a good pace.
Approaching the turn, she got onto the back of Royal Patronage as they began their move and from there it was all Fangirl.
She moved up quickly, bouncing back to toy with the rest of the field over the final 50m.
On the line she had a half-length to spare over outsider My Oberon ($31) while Royal Patronage completed the trifecta in third.
“She had to give them a good start. I was thinking, thank God, we’ve got James aboard,” winning trainer Waller told Sky Thoroughbred Central after the win.
“So many things go through your mind, whether a jockey or a trainer on race day, and that’s why you’ve got the good jockeys like your Corey Browns and Nash Rawillers, your Kerrins, and I’m lucky they ride for me, and they make my job look a damn lot easier, because it’s not easy.
“We didn’t go out there with any pre-race plan, but just wary that it would be hard to make up ground, but she showed an amazing turn of foot, and she was brilliant. Especially when they’re spinning out a couple of 12 seconds up in front.
“It was terrific, I thought.”
After her 7 Stakes placing last spring Fangirl went on to claim the Group 1 $5 million King Charles III Stakes (1600m) back at the track by 2.67 lengths.
Back-to-back wins in that event are pending for her now as Fangirl has firmed into outright $3 favouritism in the pre-field markets at Ladbrokes.com.au for the October 19 showdown back at Randwick.
“I think today was a month after her first up run, and it seems to suit her. She’s not a big, heavy horse, so yeah, we’ll see what’s about, and see if we can get it right,” Waller said of Fangirl’s next up run.
Click here for the full all-in 2024 King Charles III Stakes betting markets courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.
2024 7 Stakes Results & Finishing Order
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | FANGIRL | Chris Waller | James McDonald | 8 | 57kg | $1.75F | |||
| 2 | 1 | MY OBERON (IRE) | Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald | Chad Schofield | 0.56L | 5 | 59kg | $31 | ||
| 3 | 3 | ROYAL PATRONAGE (FR) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 1.13L | 6 | 59kg | $4.40 | ||
| 4 | 2 | DETONATOR JACK (NZ) | Ciaron Maher | Jason Collett | 1.2L | 1 | 59kg | $14 | ||
| 5 | 5 | MAJOR BEEL (NZ) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Ms Rachel King | 1.26L | 4 | 59kg | $61 | ||
| 6 | 4 | NAVAJO PEAK | David Payne | Kerrin McEvoy | 3.45L | 7 | 59kg | $101 | ||
| 7 | 8 | HINGED | Chris Waller | Nash Rawiller | 4.23L | 2 | 57kg | $15 | ||
| 8 | 7 | ZOUGOTCHA | Chris Waller | Tommy Berry | 4.59L | 3 | 57kg | $5.50 | ||
| 9 | ZARDOZI | James Cummings | Zac Lloyd (a) | 0 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
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