News

G1 glory for Great Southern graduate Well Written

8th Nov 2025

Outstanding 3YO filly Well Written (Written Tycoon) stayed unbeaten with a powerhouse victory in Saturday’s G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas over a mile at Riccarton.

Well ridden by her regular jockey, expat Australian Matthew Cartwright, Well Written travelled smoothly in the one-one position, eased into the clear at the 300m and bolted away to lead the 12-horse field home by 2.5 lengths as a raging odds-on favourite.

Foxhill Thoroughbreds paid just $32,500 for the chestnut filly as a weanling from the Lemrac Lodge draft at Inglis’s 2023 Great Southern Sale.

Well Written has now won all three starts for trainer Stephen Marsh by gaping margins.

She took a 1200m Ellerslie maiden on debut by three lengths on September 20, then backed up at the same course to take the prestigious G2 Soliloquy Stakes by 6.8 lengths on October 18.

That led Yulong to buy a 50 percent stake in the filly and she carried their famous green and white colours in spectacular style today.

“There’s a lot of relief,” Marsh said. “I was nervous today with the expectations there.

“But I’d just told Matt to ride her like the best horse and don’t panic. I wanted him to pretend it’s just another race, put her there and put her to sleep. I was happy when he didn’t peel off at the top of the straight. He just sat in the slipstream for a bit longer and then came out.

“From that point on, it was something else to watch. It was pretty special. It’s the first Thousand Guineas we’ve won, and she’s just a special filly.

“She’s got that bit of freakishness about her. It’s exciting to have horses like that in your stable and makes the job so much easier.”

He added: “This is a great result for the Yulong team, we’re delighted to have them involved, and it’s also great for all of our previous owners that sold down – a lot of them are here today.”

Cartwright reflected on the win by saying: “Gee, she’s exciting”.

“She’s a very, very good horse,” he said.

“She travelled beautifully. I tried to count to 10 in the straight before letting her go, but I probably only got to six.

“She was a bit green out in front. She was going that fast that her legs couldn’t really keep up. I don’t know where her ceiling is, but she’s one of the best horses I’ve sat on.”

Bred by Victoria’s David Digney, Well Written is the 113^th individual G1 winning Inglis graduate since 2018 and the 47^th that could have been bought for $100,000 or less.

In Sydney, Inglis graduate Revengeance (Hellbent) shot to equal favouritism for the G1 Golden Slipper after a dominant victory in the $1 million Golden Gift for 2YOs at Rosehill.

Ridden by Josh Parr, the Waterhouse-Bott trained colt sat just off the pace before taking the lead at the 200m and coming away to score comfortably by almost a lengths as $2.60 favourite.

Revengeance was a $100,000 purchase by syndicators Darby Racing at this year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, sold by Davali Stud.

He had shown his class with a win at Sydney’s first official two-year-old barrier trials on September 22, then turned in a strong effort in his racing debut when third in the G3 Breeders’ Plate.

Co-trainer Adrian Bott said the $580,000 earned on Saturday had made Revengeance’s path to the Golden Slipper in March considerably easier.

“We’ll work back from the Slipper as to what that path is,” he told Channel 7. “Whether it’s the Blue Diamond, whether it’s Inglis Millennium, we have a few different lead-up options.

“Whether we go a tradition path, we’ll see what pans out and see what we think is the best way to get him to the Slipper. Obviously he’s got the money now.

“He’s a lovely type. Josh gave him a lovely ride today, and just used that race experience to advantage. He rode the high pressure there, got into a lovely spot just in behind the speed and produced at the right time. He was excellent late, good through the line, and there was a lot to like about that win.”

Bott paid tribute to Scott Darby’s syndications company, whose past juvenile highlights include the 2017 Golden Slipper with She Will Reign - an Inglis Classic purchase for just $20,000 - and last season’s Inglis Banner, Inglis Nursery and G2 Sweet Embrace Stakes winner Within The Law.

“They’re incredible at selecting and what they do, and incredible the way they manage their horses,” Bott said of Darby Racing. “It’s an honour to be able to train for them and get nice horses like this in the yard.”

Also at Rosehill, Inglis Premier sale graduate Arctic Glamour returned to the winners’ list at G2 level in the Hot Danish Stakes over 1400m.

Ridden by Tom Sherry, the Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou trained 5YO raced in second spot before striking the lead at the 300m and digging in doggedly to score by 0.4 lengths.

Bought by her trainers from Noorilim Park’s draft for $185,000 at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale of 2022, the Toorak Thoroughbred Breeding Trust-bred Arctic Glamour has now won more than $735,000 in prizemoney.

“I love her,” Ryan said.

“She should have won more than what she has won. She ran fifth in the G1 Epsom Handicap last year, ridden up on speed. A lot of her races she draws bad barriers and got wet tracks.”

Alexiou credited a gear change as helping Arctic Glamour to the first-up win.

“She normally wears the visors (but) we put the blinkers on and did a few different things with her," Alexiou said.

"We worked her a bit sharper. We put her over some hurdles. She worked over the hurdles this morning just to get her thinking about things again. Completely rapt.”