Verry Elleegant needed to call on all her champion qualities to claim her ninth Group 1 as Rachel King set up a thriller on the free-running Riodini in Saturday’s $1million Fujitsu General George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick.
With steady rain falling, Verry Elleegant gave her army of supporters plenty of concern when she stood up Riodini over three lengths start inside the 200 metres.
Switched back to the fence by James McDonald, Verry Elleegant won a shade cosily in the end by three-quarters of a length from the game Riodini (Proisir) with Think It Over (So You Think) running right up to his Chelmsford Stakes win, a half-head back in third.
“She is a good horse simple as that. She is a difficult horse to train and the team, as I’ve mentioned before today, just do a wonderful job with her and all the other horses,” Waller said.
"I’m here getting the accolades for it on race day, but it is an honour to train a horse like this. If she doesn’t win Group 1s she runs second in them over all distances on all track conditions. That is a rare commodity.
“On her constitution, she wouldn’t eat as well as we liked. It was a nightmare just trying to get her to each race. As we all do, she has strengthened up as an older horse and mentally she is a lot better. So that tells us that she is enjoying her racing and it all comes hand in hand.
"You could see James was trying to be tactical and have her off the fence. That didn’t work out that well. It caused her to over-race a little I thought the first time I watched it.
"From the half-mile onwards, she was cruising, and she had to dig deep the last 200m but that is when a horse like Verry Elleegant starts to excel. The tougher the contest the better she’ll go.
“Hopefully she will get to a Cox Plate, but we are yet to decide where her next run will be. Whether it will be in Sydney in two weeks in the Hill Stakes, which is obviously on our radar, or if not there then it could be the Turnbull before the Cox Plate and who knows after that.”
Verry Elleegant advances her record to 14 wins, seven seconds, and two thirds from 31 starts with earnings of $9,270,744.
Bred by her part-owner Don Goodwin, Verry Elleegant is a sister to the stakes-placed Verry Flash.
She is the best of three winners from four to race out of the Danroad mare Opulence whose granddam Chalet Girl (Imposing) is a half-sister to Danewin and Commands, from the same Eight Carat family of Verry Elleegant's sire Zed.
Goodwin had purchased Opulence for just $14,000 at the 2011 NZB National Broodmare Sale
Opulence has an unraced three-year-old brother to Verry Elleegant named Affluential. He was consigned to the 2020 NZB Karaka Yearling sale where John Chalmers Bloodstock, on behalf of leviathan WA owner Bob Peters, had the final say at $140,000. Affluential is in the stable of Grant & Alana Williams
Opulence has a 2yo colt, again by the son of Zabeel. She was not covered in 2019 but visited Zed again last spring.
