Many punters had the feeling Russian Camelot could go undefeated this spring following his dominant last start win in the Group I MRC Underwood Stakes, but quality Pierro mare Arcadia Queen made a lie of that assumption when she strolled straight past him to win the Group I MRC Caulfield Stakes (2000m) on Saturday.
A homebred for Bob and Sandra Peters trained by Grant and Alana Williams, Arcadia Queen won the Group I WATC Kingston Town Classic as a three year-old, but has mixed her form a little since then with a stint in Sydney under the care of Chris Waller proving less successful than hoped for.
Third to Russian Camelot last start, Arcadia Queen enjoyed the good track and had her bar racing plates removed for this run indicating her feet must now be in top condition.
She stalked the main contenders and under minimal urging from Willie Pike surged past the favourite to win by more than a length.
Arcadia Queen gave her rider Willie Pike a treble of winners on the day.
"I knew my chance was to catch him in the last 200 and that's what happened," Pike said.
"I am pretty proud of her. She's always been a stable favourite and it's great to see her back in the winner's list.”
The Cox Plate is next on the agenda for Arcadia Queen, who has the overall record of seven wins and three placings from 13 starts with prizemoney topping $2.4million.
A sister-in-blood to Pierro’s Group I winner Regal Power, Arcadia Queen is a sibling to Group winners Arcadia Dream and Arcadia Prince as well as stakes-winner Arcadia Rose being the best of seven winners from seven foals to race from blue hen Arcadia.
A 16 year-old daughter of Redoute’s Choice, Arcadia has a yearling filly and colt foal by Pierro to follow in the footsteps of Arcadia Queen.
