After racing through his classes, life got a bit tougher for Amor Victorious when he stepped up to stakes class.
The 5-year-old son of Caravaggio (USA) found conditions to suit when leading at every call under Tyler Sciller in Saturday’s Group II Canadian Club Shannon Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill.
Under his lightweight and with his saddle slipping back, Amor Victorious defeated the fast-finishing So You Think gelding Punch Lane by a half-length, with the New Bay (GB) import New Endeavour three-quarters of a length back in third.
A $180,000 buy for Darby Racing / Will Johnson Bloodstock from the Bhima Thoroughbreds draft at the 2021 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, Amor Victorious advances his record to six wins, three seconds, and two thirds from 15 starts with earnings of $578,850.
“It was a great win,” trainer Bjorn Baker said.
“Thanks to the owners, they’ve been really patient, Darby Racing of course. We like to put our horses up there and it worked out really well today.
“We’ve had a bit of a frustrating run, a lot of placings. Someone said it was an easy watch, I said ‘no it wasn’t, it’s a heck of a long straight.
“At his first two runs, he was up against some good horses and probably didn’t look as good as he could. I even debated whether we ran him today. I had a talk to Scott (Darby) and he was like ‘it’s up to you’. He was full of beans and we thought with the blinkers on that might just sharpen him up a bit. We’ve got some good races for him now. We’ve got the Five Diamonds Prelude, and maybe we'll be into the Five Diamonds. It was good to see him do that.”
Bred by Fieldhouse Partnership, Amor Victorious is the best of two winners from three to race for the Snitzel mare Koizora, a daughter of dual Group III winner Sky Love (Octagonal), a half-sister to Group 1 Emirates Stakes winner Sky Cuddle (Snippets), dam of Group II ATC Breeders CLasic winner Champagne Cuddles, who on this day in 2017 finished second to Trapeze Artist in the Group 1 Golden Rose.
Koizora has a 2-year-old colt by the Dream Ahead stallion Sensei, who was a $30,000 purchase for Clinton Taylor Racing from the Grove Thoroughbreds draft at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale.
Purchased for a mere $2,000 at the 2021 National Broodmare Sale, Koizora foaled a colt by Jonker on August 30.
Amor Victorious is the 18th stakes-winner for the former Coolmore shuttler Caravaggio (USA), who now stands at JBBA Shizunai Stallion Station, Japan.
