It wouldn't be a Sydney autumn without Gai Waterhouse winning a group 1.
���Too classy: Sam Clipperton and English take out the All Aged Stakes. Photo: bradleyphotos.com.au
It wouldn't be a Sydney autumn without Gai Waterhouse winning a group 1. It took until the last one at Randwick but English delivered her the All Aged Stakes in style.
Waterhouse has had a group 1 winner at every autumn carnival this century and with a stable that had been lacking a star this year, she might have found one in English.
"You don't really think about things like that, I just try to have them fit and well for days like this, so they can do what she just did," Waterhouse said. "It is nice to keep it going because it is special."
English ran third in the TJ Smith on the first day of The Championships and was a Golden Slipper runner-up, but this was her day.
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The small field and lack of a leader played into English's favour, and coupled with a brilliant Sam Clipperton ride, it was recipe for success. He sat three-wide on the back of favourite Press Statement as they jogged in the early part.
The 22-year-old has emerged as a group 1 jockey and this was his graduation into top company.
"The ride won the race it was perfect," said John Kelly from Newhaven Park, which owns the filly. "From the time he went on the track he had her under control and never let the race get away from him.
"He just did actually what was needed and when she was that close you had to very confident."
Clipperton ��� who was riding under a stay of proceedings as he appeals a careless riding suspension ��� had spoken to the Kellys and Waterhouse on Friday and they had thought the race might have lacked pace. He knew English had a tendency to get hot before the race and made sure she was happy.
"I had coffee with the Kellys and they just told me they had faith in me and the filly," Clipperton said. "She is a quirky little filly but I have never felt a horse with a turn of foot like her. It was scintillating."
Clipperton had the leading trio in his sights until the turn, but when Kermadec made his run from the 600m mark Clipperton was flushed out on English.
"I knew I had to have faith in her, I nursed her for as long as I could but when I let her go I just had to hold on because she sprinted so quick," he said. "She was getting tired on the line but she had done enough."
Favourite Press Statement was disappointing as he dropped out to run fifth and was found to have a small wound to his near hind fetlock.
"Little factors like being a bit more decisive earlier in the race could have seen him in a better position rather than covering ground. [I thought he was] just a little flat," trainer Chris Waller told stewards.
"If he ran well the plan was to go to Ascot, but we'll see how he pulls up."
English become only the third filly to win the All Aged after Atlantic Jewel and Valley Girl and gave Waterhouse a record fifth win in the group 1.
She won by a half-neck from Black Heart Bart with Kermadec a half-length back in third.
Missing the spring had been key for English, which will now chase more group 1s in Brisbane.
"She is the best three-year-old filly in the country," Waterhouse said. "I knew she would run 1400m with her eyes shut because her work had changed the last little bit and had become seasoned, that explosiveness she had as a two-year-old has been transferred itself into a filly that will run a mile easily.
"She has a winter ahead of her and will go to Brisbane for races like the Doomben 10,000 and Stradbroke, she is in form and put the older horses to bed today."
Former Perth galloper Black Heart Bart will also head to Brisbane with runners-up finishes in the Newmarket Handicap and All Aged Stakes and Kerrin McEvoy said he had got held up at a crucial when racing to the inside English.
"Began a little bit sticky, I had to try and manufacture something from the first furlong. Got into a nice enough spot but then just couldn't get out of it," McEvoy said. "The winner had me in a little bit of a pocket. Had I been able to get going a 100 yards earlier and wind him up he wins the race. He was an unlucky loser."