Recently, our in-focus horse was Orchestral and she was favourite on a huge day in Sydney last weekend.
The Australian Oaks, in which she ran, and the Sydney Cup both took place with each race able to once again slightly change the Melbourne Cup betting.
Circle Of Fire Lands Sydney Cup
The eyes of those thinking about Flemington on November 5 will have been firmly on the Sydney Cup last week. Run over 3200m, this race is the full Melbourne Cup distance and is a Group 1 handicap to boot.
Though Ashrun and Amade were well fancied, the top two in the market were Athabascan and Circle Of Fire. There was little in it at the weights too, meaning the form should hold up as long as they both ran well.
$6 shot Athabascan ran well, but he was ultimately out-done by $5.50 favourite Circle Of Fire for Ciaron Maher and Italian jockey Andrea Atzenia.
Until very recently, the four-year-old northern hemisphere colt was owned by the King. Trained in Newmarket by Sir Michael Stoute, Circle Of Fire had good form in England. He has run third in a Derby trial and third to Chesspiece, potentially a good stayer this season.
Though all races can offer excuses of sorts to runners, Circle Of Fire strode out nicely here to win by two lengths. That backs up his recent Group 2 win at Randwick and he is now on a roll in Australia.
Trainer Maher later trained Pride Of Jenny to victory in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Her performance was immense, though whether she is considered a Cup horse or not remains to be seen.
Orchestral Disappoints Punters in Oaks
Ultimately, many were left disappointed by Orchestral’s performance in the Australian Oaks. In fairness, that will only be the case because she was a beaten odds-on favourite.
The truth is that this was another fine run by the young star filly. Having already been outstanding in the NZ Derby and the Vinery Stud Stakes, more was expected at Randwick. Another win however was a step too far.
Ridden by James McDonald, this fine specimen ran another bold race. Only just out-battled by Godolphin’s Zardozi under Tom Marquand, a line through that filly would suggest that her performance wasn’t quite as good as last time having already held off that filly by 1½ lengths.
In the end, neither filly had the pace to live with winner Autumn Angel for Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman.
Mark Zahra’s runner put up a nice show. What’s important for Orchestral’s supporters long term and that both she and Zardozi were right behind the NZ filly in the betting. This way, we know the form is strong.
Orchestral returns to New Zealand now, but she’ll be back. After a break, we can expect her to take another step up in her exciting career.
