Victorian trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman sent their emerging Kiwi-bred talent Rhapsody Chic to Sydney on Saturday and came away with a stunning win in the A$160,000 TAB Handicap (1400m) at Randwick.
The Benchmark 78 handicap was the third straight victory for the four-year-old gelding, who had won a Benchmark 64 at Seymour and a Benchmark 70 at Sandown in his two previous starts.
The Randwick raid marked a much tougher test as he stepped up into Saturday class and lined up for his first start the Sydney way around. His task grew even more difficult when he was slow to leave the starting gates, settled second-last and was languishing more than a dozen lengths from the leader with 800m remaining.
But jockey Nash Rawiller angled Rhapsody Chic into clear air in the Randwick straight and got him balanced up, and his mount changed gears and bounded home down the middle the track. He was still only sixth with 200m to run, but quickened superbly to sprint past Pure Alpha and snatch victory by half a length.
“They said he’s a pretty nice horse, and he had to be to overcome the run that he had,” Rawiller said. “He stood there when the gates opened, and I thought that if I’d given him a squeeze at that point, he might have got it all wrong.
“He twice wanted to go the Melbourne way – once on the home turn and again after the line. He’s done a really good job to balance up and get the job done today. He’s a horse you can definitely follow with a bit of confidence.”
Racing in the colours of syndicators Roll The Dice Racing, Rhapsody Chic has now had eight starts for four wins, four placings and A$156,449.
Rhapsody Chic was bred by Blandford Lodge owners Helen-Gaye and Graham Bax. He is by Sacred Falls out of the Pour Moi mare Boho Chic, who is a half-sister to Singapore’s Champion Two-Year-Old, Three-Year-Old and Four-Year-Old Better Than Ever.
Kurtis Pertab paid just $700 to buy Rhapsody Chic as a weanling from a Gavelhouse.com auction in May of 2020. Pertab later offered him at the 2021 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka, where he failed to meet his $25,000 reserve.
Rhapsody Chic remained in Pertab’s Matamata stable and won by three lengths at Matamata last June in his only New Zealand start before being purchased privately by Roll The Dice.
Saturday’s TAB Handicap produced a New Zealand-bred quinella, with favourite Pure Alpha finishing a close second after sitting outside the leader and taking command in the straight. Pure Alpha was bred by JML Bloodstock and is by Ardrossan out of the Written Tycoon mare Bridgewater. From five starts, Pure Alpha has recorded two wins and three seconds and earned A$108,550.
Earlier in Saturday’s Randwick card, Preferment gelding Strathtay collected his second consecutive Sydney victory in the A$160,000 Task Handicap (2000m).
Ridden by Jay Ford for trainer Chris Waller, the four-year-old settled in the second half of the field before lengthening stride in the straight and surging to a powerful staying victory.
Strathtay has now had 11 starts for four wins, a placing and A$208,178 for owner-breeder Iain Bruce. He was a two-time winner in New Zealand for Matamata trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott before being sent across the Tasman.
Strathtay is out of the Savoire Vivre mare Miss Remington, who was a placegetter on the racetrack and is a half-sister to the Group Three winner and Gr.1 Robert Sangster Stakes (1400m) fourth placegetter Miss Steele.
Both of Miss Remington’s two foals to race have been winners. Since Strathtay was foaled in the spring of 2019, Miss Remington has had two further matings to Preferment and produced the three-year-old filly Cash Treasure and an unnamed two-year-old colt. She foaled a colt by young Cambridge Stud stallion Sword Of State last spring.