Classy mare Coeur Volante continued her rich vein of form with a third straight victory at Caulfield on Saturday, heading a New Zealand-bred quinella for Lindsay Park trainers Ben, Will and JD Hayes in the A$150,000 Sportsbet Fixed Odds Exotics Handicap (1600m).
Coeur Volante has had a change of ownership this season, having been bought by Anthony Thompson’s Widden Stud Australia Pty Limited and Julia Ritchie’s Bangaloe Stud for A$500,000 from the 2025 Spring Boutique Online Sale on Inglis Digital in November.
The New Zealand-bred daughter of Proisir previously raced for a syndicate headed by Rupert Legh. She won four races for that group including the Gr.2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m), Gr.3 Scarborough Stakes (1200m) and Gr.3 Mannerism Stakes (1400m). She also finished fourth in the Gr.1 Thousand Guineas (1600m).
Left in the Lindsay Park stable by her new connections, Coeur Volante has breathed new life into her racing career. She resumed with a third in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes (1100m) on May 30, then put together back-to-back wins at Sandown on June 13 and Caulfield on June 27.
Those performances brought a rise in weight on Saturday to 60.5kg, dropping to 58.5kg with Jackson Radley’s claim. But Coeur Volante carried on her winning way.
Radley slotted Coeur Volante into sixth place, three-wide but with cover, before presenting her out wide at the top of the straight to try to chase down the front-running Ten Commandments.
Coeur Volante showed a good turn of foot and soon began to gain ground, with fellow New Zealand-bred stablemate Rise At Dawn chiming in on her inside.
The in-form Ten Commandments kept fighting closer to the rail and took plenty of catching, but Coeur Volante and Rise At Dawn finished over the top of him in the last 50m. Rise At Dawn threw everything he had at Coeur Volante, but she found a little bit more and edged out the Almanzor gelding.
“She’s a ripper and was very good again today,” Radley said. “She raced a little bit keener today, but we were able to find a bit of cover, which helped. She did very well to put them away with a bit more weight on her back.”
Coeur Volante has now had 20 starts for seven wins, a placing and A$842,540 in stakes. She has earned A$263,250 of that amount since her new connections bought her eight months ago.
“She’s been unbelievable in this preparation,” Will Hayes said. “To win three in a row is so good for Julia and Anthony. It’s so pleasing to see her reward them for buying her and putting her back into training.
“The order she’s in, hopefully she might be able to carry on and strike in the early spring. Depending on how she is, a race like the PB Lawrence Stakes (Gr.2, 1400m) is definitely worth considering.
“With Rise At Dawn finishing second, it was a pretty amazing race for the stable and a pleasure to watch. Well done to all of the team at home.
“It was a very good return by Rise At Dawn. He’s put the writing on the wall that he’s back in a big way. He’ll take nice benefit out of this and might be hard to beat second-up. He’ll have a number of nice options going forward.”
Bred by Fairdale Stud, Coeur Volante is by Proisir out of the Testa Rossa mare Shanina. She was purchased by Paul Moroney Bloodstock in conjunction with Ballymore Stables for $90,000 out of the Prima Park draft during the Book 1 Yearling Sale at Karaka in 2022 and was initially trained by Moroney’s late brother Mike.
Coeur Volante is the younger half-sister of stakes-placed filly Hasstobemagic and comes from a family that includes multiple Australian Group Two winner Rose O’ War and outstanding race mare Savana City, who included the Gr.1 AJC Oaks (2400m) amongst her eight career victories. – NZ Racing Desk.
