Barely 10 minutes after winning the Listed Berkley Stud Champagne Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton with Diss Is Dramatic, prominent Kiwi syndicators Go Racing landed another feature win on the other side of the Tasman with Stardome in the XXXX Gold Coast Cup (2400m).
The six-year-old son of Savabeel went into the A$125,000 staying feature in a rich vein of form, having won or placed in all of his previous four starts at Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, Eagle Farm and Doomben.
The step up to 2400 metres on heavy ground on Saturday brought the very best out of Stardome, who surged out of the pack in the straight and edged ahead of fellow New Zealand hope Soprano Supreme to score a determined victory by half a length.
As well as carrying the colours of Go Racing, Stardome had additional New Zealand connections, being ridden by the now-Queensland-based Mark Du Plessis for champion trainer Chris Waller.
“Thanks to Chris and his team – he’s a tough, fit, good, in-form horse,” Du Plessis said. “I wouldn’t say he relished the going, but his fitness has got him home.
“He was just beautiful. He was off the bridle, but I had him there whenever I wanted. Youngblood had me in trouble, I thought, at one stage, and then I thought the second horse had me in trouble, but he just kept putting his head out, which is the main thing.”
Stardome was bred by Soliloquy Lodge’s Richard Moore, and he was purchased by Go Racing for $135,000 from Haunui Farm’s draft at the 2017 Premier Yearling Sale at Karaka. From 47 starts, he has now recorded eight wins and 14 placings and earned A$482,300 in stakes.
“He’s an old pro,” Waller’s stable representative Brett Killian said. “It was a good, tough effort – a mile and a half on a real bog track. He really was in for the fight today. It's probably been his most productive preparation. He’s just getting in the with lighter weights in these races, and he's really appreciating it.”
The Mark Walker-trained Soprano Supreme lost little in her narrow defeat on Australian debut. A back-to-back winner at Rotorua in Rating 65 and Rating 74 grade in her two previous starts, the four-year-old Contributer mare has now had three wins and three placings in a 10-start career for the Fortuna Soprano Supreme Syndicate. – NZ Racing Desk