News - FASTNET ROCK (AUS)
Champion trainer Chris Waller has achieved stunning Group I success with NH bred Fastnet Rock imports Via Sistina (IRE) and Buckaroo (IRE), could he do it a third time with Sun God (GB)?
Much missed Coolmore champion sire Fastnet Rock hit a milestone on Saturday at Scone when producing his 200th stakes-winner and fittingly it was trained by Chris Waller, who put the polish on the best Fastnet Rock ever in Via Sistina (IRE).
Fastnet Rock’s champion daughter Via Sistina (IRE) is the best racehorse in the country and she showed us exactly why at Flemington Saturday when overcoming a heavy track and testing conditions to win the $3million Group I VRC Champions Stakes (200m) for the second year in a row.
It’s been quite the weekend for the late great champion sire Fastnet Rock with a Cox Plate quinella on Saturday and then on Sunday he produced a new stakes-winner when seven year-old gelding El Rocko captured the $200,000 Listed Sale Cup (1600m).
A genuine champion sire should be able to produce the horses that win the very best races in the country in which they stand and the late great Fastnet Rock have us a demonstration of that when his high class Northern Hemisphere bred offspring Via Sistina (IRE) and Buckaroo (GB) fought out an epic finish to the $6million Group I MVRC WS Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Fastnet Rock was a crowd pleaser when paraded as a living legend at the Coolmore stallion parade last month, but sadly this spring was to be his last.
Victorian bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills is known for his good record with expensive fillies and $1.1million Inglis Easter purchase On Display showed she was in line for a good spring campaign when charging home to win at Caulfield on Saturday.
Via Sistina is certainly in rare air and if you want another stat to put her in perspective – yesterday’s Winx Stakes win saw her become one of only three horses in the last 40 years to win eight Group One races in a 12-month period.
Set to be crowned Australia’s Horse of the Year for last season, the mighty Fastnet Rock mare Via Sistina (IRE) returned on a rain soaked track at Randwick on Saturday to win the $1million Group I ATC Winx Stakes (1400m).
Tara Talks Racing podcast listeners would have taken notice of the Listed SAJC Adelaide Guineas (1600m) at Morphettville on Saturday featuring $1.1million Fastnet Rock filly On Display.
Everything about Via Sistina (IRE) is impressive – from her unique physique to her giant stride to her unshakeable serenity – and the daughter of Fastnet Rock produced another virtuoso performance at Randwick on Saturday to win the $5million Group I ATC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in race record time and very nearly course record time.
Torryburn Stud bred horses have been hugely successful in Hong Kong and include Champion Sprinter Hot King Prawn and Group I winning miler and Hong Kong Derby hero Voyage Bubble and while Straight Arron is not quite to their class he is well above average and won the Group II Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Australian racing fans got their first look at Via Sistina (IRE) when she won the $1million Group I ATC Ranvet Stakes (2000m) last year and the champion daughter of Fastnet Rock has taken all before her ever since.
The Group I $1million ATC Verry Elleegant Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday was always going to be won by a Chris Waller trained runner when talented gelding Ceolwulf was scratched on the morning of the race and it was the favourite Via Sistina (IRE), who did best in a titanic battle to shade her stablemates Fangirl and Lindermann.
The well travelled Fastnet Rock six-year-old Coastwatch has a long range Group One Stradbroke plan after winning stakes race number four in the Evergreen Turf John Dillon Stakes (1400m) at Sandown on Saturday.
Off the scene for nearly a year this lightly raced well bred four year-old Fastnet Rock mare made a winning return at Kilmore on Friday as a short priced favourite and has a half-sister headed to Inglis Easter.
The Fastnet Rock x Galileo cross is a formidable one and has produced this spring’s elite Group I winners Via Sistina (IRE) and Buckaroo (GB) with another lightly raced import bred the same way in Gilded Water (GB) going two for two in Australia with a cavalier win at Randwick on Saturday.
The Fastnet Rock x Galileo cross is a formidable one and has produced this spring’s elite Group I winners Via Sistina (IRE) and Buckaroo (GB) with another lightly raced import bred the same way opening his account at Kembla on Saturday carrying the colours of King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Fresh from a virtuoso performance to win the Group I MVRC Cox Plate in track record time, Yulong owned Fastnet Rock mare Via Sistina (IRE) turned on the afterburners again at Flemington on Saturday to win the Group I VRC Champions Stakes (2000m) by nearly three lengths.
The Fastnet Rock x Galileo nick has been on fire in Melbourne this spring producing Cox Plate winner Via Sistina (IRE) and leading Melbourne Cup contender Buckaroo (GB) and it struck again overnight in the UK with a brand new stakes-winner in Military Academy, who captured the Listed Floodlit Stakes (1m4f) at Kempton.