Rosehill Review: Impressive Group 1 winners

Gary reviews the action from Rosehill

Saturday's Rosehill Guineas meeting unearthed two quality performances in the feature Group 1 races on the programme...

The Rosehill Guineas was won in a canter by New Zealand three-year-old It's A Dundeel, while Melbourne sprinter Bel Sprinter staged a last-to-first effort to take the Galaxy over 1100m in a new race record time.

The time-honoured Rosehill Guineas has always been the domain of quality three-year-olds en-route to the Australian Derby at Randwick and last Saturday It's A Dundeel emphatically stamped his authority on the current group of three-year-old stayers with a breath-taking six-and-three-quarter length demolition job on his rivals headed by former fellow kiwi Scared Falls and Tatra.

The dominance of the performance can best be appreciated by the winning margin. For It's A Dundeel to win by almost seven lengths in a race where the average winning margin for the last 30 years has been less than a length says much about the win.

At odds of $1.30 It's A Dundeel became the shortest priced favourite to win the Guineas in the same period and just the fourth horse to win the ATC Champion Stakes - Rosehill Guineas double, joining Niello (2004), Tie The Knot (1998) and Danewin (1995. It's A Dundeel is now one win away from becoming the first horse to complete the Randwick/Rosehill/ATC Derby triple crown since the Randwick Guineas over 1600m replaced the Canterbury Guineas over 1900m in 2006 as the first leg of the series.

In eight renewals It's a Dundeel and Metal Bender are the only horses to have won the first two legs, Metal Bender going on to finish eighth behind Roman Emperor in the 2009 ATC Derby.

It's A Dundeel's performance was sensational, his rider making two runs on the colt yet he was still able to treat his opposition with contempt. Approaching the turn James McDonald made his first move around the entire field, reaching the lead soon after entering the straight where he sat quietly before asking the colt to quicken again, racing well clear.

The assessment of the merit of the win was not straightforward, mainly due to the quality of the opposition. The rating and form profiles of the field going into the race suggest a Timeform rating of 125p for It's A Dundeel, the figure being above the five year average winning Timeform rating for the Guineas and on the lower side of possible values suggested by historical race standards.

Clearly Alister Clark Stakes winner Hvasstan ran well below form at his first run in Sydney and therefore was not a factor while distance queries hang over Sacred Falls and Tatra. For those reasons, a 125p Timeform rating was considered the appropriate mark, at which level he now joins Octagonal as the highest rated winner of the Rosehill Guineas in the last 20 years.

It's A Dundeel's main opposition for the Derby is Fiveandahalfstar - Timeform rated 122- who will race against the older stayers in the BMW prior to the Derby. At this juncture, this pair will dominate the ATC Derby in a fortnight.

Melbourne sprinter Bel Sprinter, by Black Caviar's sire Bel Esprit, finally delivered on the promise he has shown for some time with a devastating display in the G1 Galaxy, storming home to win from last after missing the start by a couple of lengths. Trainer Jason Warren reported after the race that a recent throat operation to increase the air flow to his lungs had worked wonders and who could argue with that?

Before Saturday, Bel Sprinter's best previous win was in the G3 McEwen Stakes over 1000m at Moonee Valley however he had been considered unlucky in several big sprints including an Oakleigh Plate behind Woorim. But on Saturday all that was brushed aside, Bel Sprinter now an impressive Group 1 winner in his own right, defeating smart filly Snitzerland and Decision Time.

Clearly Bel Sprinter ran to a new peak Timeform rating on Saturday a figure of 126 assigned to the merit of the win, an increase in performance of eight pounds above his previous peak. A 126 rating for Bel Sprinter is several pounds above the five year average winning Timeform rating for the race and makes him the second highest rated winner of the race in the last 20 years, just two pounds behind Schillaci's 128 in 1992.

Snitzerland was honest in defeat. As rider Corey Brown said after the race, she was travelling like a winner with 300m to go but had no answer for the winner. She ran to a 121 rating, just below her Challenge figure while third-placed Decision Time continued his excellent form after a long layoff.

Snitzerland just missed out on a historic double to become the first filly or mare to win the Challenge Stakes and Galaxy. Just two horses have achieved the feat, Playbill in 1972 and Snitzel (Snitzerland's grand sire) in 1988.

A possible match up with champion sprinter Black Caviar awaits Bel Sprinter in the T J Smith Stakes, the gelding being one of the few remaining sprinters in the land that has not yet locked horns with the great mare. And just to make the task a little more daunting, just one horse has completed that double, La Baraka in 1998.

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