Canterbury Stakes Review: Pierro dominates Sprint

Gary Crispe has reviewed Pierro's win

Former champion juvenile and triple crown winner Pierro remained unbeaten in Sydney with another strong effort to take the G1 Canterbury Stakes over 1300m at Rosehill last Saturday...

It was Pierro's first win against older gallopers under weight-for-age conditions and it brought his unbroken winning sequence in Sydney to nine with the promise of more to come. 

The line up in the Canterbury Stakes would have done justice to any Group 1 sprint field in the land, headed of course by champion mare More Joyous. Add in other Group 1 winners Moment Of Change, Happy Trails, Mid Summer Music, Secret Admirer and Solzhenitzen and Group 2 winner Rain Affair, then we had a high quality line up to test the up and coming Pierro.

First run in 1929, the Canterbury Stakes was recently upgraded to Group 1 status, providing a great opportunity to assemble some of the best sprinters in training early in the Sydney Autumn Carnival.

Second up after a determined victory in the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m), Pierro coming back in distance, ran impressive figures as he held off stablemate More Joyous for his first Group 1 success against the older horses.

Pierro ran only two pounds shy of his master figure achieved when dominating the Champagne Stakes (1600m) last autumn returning a Timeform rating of 125+. With the return of blinkers second up, racegoers witnessed a far more dominant display by the colt than in the Hobartville where he scrambled home in a tight finish from Rebel Dane.

Under the guidance of Jim Cassidy for the first time, Pierro was parked behind the leader Rain Affair in transit, quickly challenging that galloper early in the straight striking the front 150m from home before a three-quarter length win ensued.

Stable mate More Joyous chased in vain as she finished second, unable to post her third straight Canterbury Stakes success with Solzhenitsyn flashing late for third.

In assessing the merit of the form, the pre race rating and form profiles of the field suggested a 125 value for Pierro, a pound higher than the five-year winning average Timeform rating for the race and a pound lower than historical race standards.

Given nine of the ten runners all finished within six lengths of each other the value was held back slightly because of handicap type runners getting so close under standard weight for age conditions.

On balance a 125+ for Pierro was assessed as the appropriate level,  making him equal highest rated three-year-old winner (Paratroopers 125 in 2006) of the race in the last 25 years, eclipsing Dance Hero, one of Gai Waterhouse's Golden Slipper winners who won the race as a three-year-old in 2005 running to 121.

By all accounts Pierro is Doncaster Handicap bound with the G1 Ryder Stakes as his next assignment. But he will be chasing an elusive double with the last Canterbury Stakes winner to claim the Doncaster Mile being Sprint By in 1996, also trained by Waterhouse.

Gai Waterhouse's latest boom colt will carry 56kg in the Doncaster Mile and while three-year-olds have a terrific record in the event, none have shouldered that weight to victory. Eight three-year-olds have claimed the Doncaster Mile since 1992 however the biggest weight carried to victory out of that Group was Assertive Lad during the 2001 renewal.

Eight-time Group 1 winner More Joyous resumed from a spell. Her record clearly reveals she produces her best form in the Autumn with now eight of her 11 starts during that time resulting in victory.

The torrential downpour during the race did not help her chances on Saturday. She got further back in the field than her rider Nash Rawiller desired and on a slippery surface found it hard to reel in her younger stable mate.

As game as ever More Joyous was far from disgraced running to a Timeform rating of 117, the same level she ran to first up last campaign. Clearly she will improve sharply when next produced.

Third placed Solzhenitsyn did well for a horse better placed under handicap conditions. After covering ground out deep he stuck to the task in the straight and was getting home as well as anything for third running to form with a Timeform rating of 117. The 2012 G1 Toorak Handicap winner is also Doncaster Handicap bound. 

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