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Zougotcha wins G1 Flight Stakes as Inglis grads dominate

1st Oct 2022

Star 3YO Zougotcha (Zoustar) asserted herself the filly of her generation with a dominant G1 Flight Stakes win on a hallmark day for Inglis graduates which included a G1, G2 and G3 quinella as well as a G2 and Listed trifecta.

The star of the show was Zougotcha, the Easter Yearling Sale filly who secured a third consecutive Group win following successes in the G2 Silver Shadow Stakes and G2 Tea Rose Stakes prior to today, keeping her undefeated as a 3YO.

Zougotcha defeated She’s Extreme in the Flight Stakes, making for a G1 quinella for Inglis graduates.

She also becomes the 75th G1-winning Inglis graduate since 2018.

Trainer Chris Waller teamed up with Guy Mulcaster to buy Zougotcha (pictured) for $500,000 at the Easter Sale from the draft of Widden Stud, who co-bred the filly with Robert Anderson’s RMA Bloodstock.

She has now won four of her six starts and is one of the most valuable broodmare prospects in the country.

Widden’s Antony Thompson was overjoyed with today’s result.

“She’s a super filly, this is a real thrill,’’ Thompson said.

“Robert Anderson has been a great client and friend of ours as long as I’ve been at the farm and we bred her together, we kept a small share in her and obviously Chris [Waller] and the whole team has done a great job with her. For us as breeders to be involved is just incredible.

“Robert and I bought the dam [Fast Talker] at an Inglis broodmare sale [in 2011] and she’s been a really nice mare. We loved this filly and Chris [Waller] saw me at the Inglis Easter Sale and said if he bought her, would we keep a share and Robert and I were keen for that so we kept a leg between us.’’

Fast Talker – herself a $280,000 buy from the Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale, was covered by Written Tycoon last season and will go back to Zoustar this Spring.

In the following race at Randwick today, Lost And Running (Per Incanto) firmed into a $6 second favourite for the $15m The Everest with a tough win in the G2 Premiere Stakes.

In the final Everest lead-up run for much of the field, Lost And Running proved he was on track for his grand final when he defeated fellow Inglis graduates and Everest runners Mazu and Masked Crusader.

Raced by industry enthusiasts including Carl Holt, his breeder Lib Petagna and Frank and Christine Cook, Lost And Running is a $40,000 Premier Yearling Sale buy for his trainer John O’Shea from the Blandford Lodge draft.

Lost And Running has now won nine of his 16 starts for almost $3m in prizemoney.

His win continued a big day for the Cooks, who also part-own Zougotcha.

“It’s been an amazing day, absolutely stunning,’’ Frank Cook said.

“Zougotcha really showed the brilliance of Chris Waller, to keep her up and just move her up in distance each time was just amazing.

“And now one of my best mates is Carl Holt so to race a horse like Lost And Running together is a great thrill. That was a tough run, there was no speed early, [jockey] Hugh [Bowman] did the right thing, he knew there was no speed so he made a move three and four wide but it was a winning move as the horse just kept going.’’

And earlier on the Randwick program, exciting 3YO Williamsburg (Snitzel) led in an Inglis graduates trifecta in the Listed Dulcify Stakes at Randwick when he defeated Communist and Stroke Of Luck.

It was a third Stakes success for the lightly-raced colt, who claimed both the G3 Schweppervescence Hcp and Listed Fernhill Hcp as a 2YO before placing in the G1 Champagne Stakes behind She’s Extreme and Fireburn.

Trained by Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, Williamsburg is a $470,000 Easter Yearling Sale buy for Tony Fung Investments from the Arrowfield Stud draft.

Williamsburg, bred by Arrowfield and Jonathan Munz’s GSA Bloodstock, will next contest the G1 Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick in three weeks, where he will likely again come up against the Inglis graduates he beat today.

In Melbourne, a pair of Easter Yearling Sale mares ran the quinella in the G2 Rose Of Kingston Stakes at Flemington when Excelida (Exceed And Excel) defeated Argentia.

It was a valuable first black type victory for Excelida, a $460,000 Easter buy for Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay, who purchased her from the draft of Trelawney Stud, who bred the mare along with John Struthers.

Prior to today, the Ben and JD Hayes-trained 6YO was six-times Stakes placed but got the win she deserved with a tough victory over the regally-bred Argentia (Frankel x Princess Coup), who was resuming from a spell and looks set for a big spring carnival herself.

And Private Eye was backed from $10 into $4.80 and won accordingly in the G2 Gilgai Stakes at Flemington for trainer Joe Pride.

A 5% share in last year’s G1 Epsom Hcp winner Private Eye sold on Inglis Digital last month for $60,000 to Nektarios Dimitrakis.

In Hong Kong, Super Wealthy (Epaulette) scored a second Stakes success when winning the G3 National Day Cup at Sha Tin.

He defeated Cordyceps Six in another Inglis grads Group quinella.

The David Hayes-trained Super Wealthy is a graduates of the Inglis Ready2Race Sale, having initially been an Inglis Classic Sale offering of Bhima.

This month’s Ready2Race Sale will be held at Riverside on October 11.

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