TE AKAU SEASON OF SUCCESS – BRILLIANT SPRINTING TREBLE

As we look back on a remarkable season trans Tasman for the Te Akau team, we salute a bold, bay filly who blazed her name across Melbourne’s spring stage with a hat-trick of victories and performances that had Australian racing fans sitting up and taking notice …

Bellatrix Star (3 f Star Witness – Alana’s Party, by Exceed and Excel) delivered one of the most scintillating highlights of the season when she stormed home in the A$300,000 Group 2 Henley Homes Schillaci Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on 12 October. It was her third stakes’ win in a row – each more impressive than the last – and confirmation that this Kiwi filly had truly arrived on one of the sport’s biggest scenes.

Already a Group 2 winner and a finalist for Champion Two-Year-Old honours last season in New Zealand, Bellatrix Star had been expertly handled by Te Akau trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson in New Zealand before she joined the Australian sprinting ranks.

Her Australian ‘re-location’ started with a bang in the Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes (1100m) at Flemington on 14 September, followed swiftly by a powerhouse display in the Group 3 Scarborough Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley just 13 days later.

But it was the Schillaci that marked her most audacious move yet – tackling weight-for-age company against seasoned older sprinters and pulling off a performance for the ages.

Ridden with ice-cool poise by champion jockey Craig Williams, Bellatrix Star travelled sweetly in seventh, tucked in behind a hot speed. When the field straightened, she was angled to the outside – and with the lightest weight on her back (51kg compared to 58.5kg for her rivals), she launched a brilliant finishing burst. In a flash, she surged past them all to win with authority and class.

In doing so, Bellatrix Star made history: the first three-year-old filly to win the Schillaci since Halibery (Red Ransom) did it 21 years earlier in 2003. And she did it in style – clocking 1:02.9 for the 1100 metres on a Good3 surface, returning $6.70 & $2.00 on the NZ TAB.

“She’s just going from strength to strength,” said trainer Mark Walker. “To beat the older horses at weight-for-age, and to become the first filly in over two decades to win this race – it’s a seriously special achievement.”

Buoyed by her success, Bellatrix Star turned her attention to one of the most iconic races for three-year-olds on the calendar: the $1.5 million Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Derby Day, 2 November. And while she didn’t win, her effort was nothing short of exceptional – charging from the rear of the field to storm into second, proving she belonged in the best company.

Owned by the Fortuna Bellatrix Star Syndicate (Mgr: John Galvin), she was purchased by David Ellis CNZM and Galvin for $80,000 at the Karaka 2023 Book 1 Sale, from the Phoenix Park draft – another inspired selection by David and the team.

Bellatrix Star’s pedigree is as star-studded as her name suggests. Her sire, Star Witness (by Starcraft), won the very same Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes that his daughter so nearly captured, and he’s gone on to become a top sprint sire in Australia. Her grand-sire Starcraft (Soviet Star) is no stranger to New Zealanders – a World Champion Turf Miler and multiple Group 1 winner across three countries, including Australia, France, and England. He famously won two legs of the Hastings Triple Crown.

On the dam side, Bellatrix Star brings the excellence of Exceed and Excel (Danehill) – Australia’s Champion Sire and elite broodmare influence. With over 5,500 winners and more than 200 stakes’ winners, his influence spans continents and decades. Her dam, Alana’s Party, traces back to The Party Stand (Thorn Park), herself a Group 1-winning mare of versatility and staying power.

Now the winner of over NZ$1 million in stakes, Bellatrix Star’s meteoric rise sadly came to a halt earlier this year when she sustained an injury during training. She is currently spelling in Victoria, receiving the very best of care and recovery.

A star who lit up spring with talent and tenacity, Bellatrix Star gave us moments to savour and a sense of what might still be to come. While her journey has taken an unexpected pause, she’s already written a memorable chapter in the Te Akau story this season – and we couldn’t be prouder.

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