LARA ANTIPOVA winning the G1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie – March 2025 – Mick Dee aboard
ANZ Bloodstock News’ Paul Symes reports:
Unbeaten filly Lara Antipova (Russian Revolution) will make her Australian debut in Saturday’s Quezette Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) as the Mark Walker stable looks to lay down an early marker ahead of a spring which is already brimming with promise.
With her fellow Group 1 winners Belle Cheval (Savabeel), Seize The Day (I Am Invincible) and Geegees Mistruth (Wordsmith) as well as comeback queen Bellatrix Star (Star Witness) all set to step out in the coming weeks, Te Akau assistant trainer Ben Gleeson was full of cheer and optimism on Monday morning despite the torrential rain in Melbourne.
Lara Antipova, who was foaled and raised at Vinery Stud before being acquired by Te Akau and Fortuna Racing’s John Galvin for $100,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, brings an unblemished juvenile record with her across the Tasman but she faces an early acid test of her mettle in what is shaping up as a strong renewal of the Quezette.
The three-year-old fillies’ race has a habit of producing future stars – the recent rollcall of winners includes Charm Stone (I Am Invincible), Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) and Sunlight (Zoustar) – so if the daughter of Newgate’s consistent performer Russian Revolution (Snitzel) can make a triumphant Australian debut, she might just be the real deal.
An impressive jumpout win at the start of the month, when she cruised past stakes-placed colt Buggsy (Harry Angel), confirmed to her conditioners that the filly had fully acclimatised and was firmly on track for her first-up assignment under Mick Dee.
Given that her dominant victory in the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) came on a Heavy 9 track, she should not be overly perturbed by the wet weather sweeping across Victoria and the prospect of a Soft surface at Caulfield.
While admitting that Lara Antipova – one of three Group 1 winners for her sire – has bigger targets in mind and so is unlikely to be at peak fitness on Saturday, Gleeson is nonetheless confident that a top-three finish is well within her capabilities.
“The whole team is very excited to see what this filly can do,” Gleeson told ANZ News.
“The Quezette is usually a very hot race so we’re expecting to be taking on a very deep field of fillies at Caulfield on Saturday, which will give us a very good early measure of whether or not her New Zealand form can stack up over here. Her recent jumpout was excellent, so that gave us the confidence to know that she’s on the right track.
“Like a lot of our horses heading into the spring, a wet weather in Melbourne means that she’s probably a little bit underdone in terms of her grass gallops. But she’s got a good base fitness on her so I do think she can be very competitive and if she could finish in the top three, we’d be thrilled with that.
“Like all these fillies and mares, the main aim is to get some black type on her page and although she’s already achieved some great things in New Zealand, to really enhance her value she’ll probably have to do the same over here in Australia. We’ve got it right with a lot of horses coming over, but we’ve also had a few misses along the journey. Her performances last season in New Zealand would certainly suggest that she’s more than capable of making the step up, so hopefully she’s the real deal.”
“But she’s got a good base fitness on her so I do think she can be very competitive and if she could finish in the top three, we’d be thrilled with that” – Ben Gleeson
Interestingly, having initially earmarked the filly for a sprinting campaign geared towards the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), Gleeson and Walker appear to have changed tack after genetic testing revealed that she may be more adept over a mile.
Lara Antipova’s dam Artistic Lass (Myboycharlie) won over 2200 metres and the mare’s sire is best known in the southern hemisphere as the father of Jameka, who won the 2016 Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) for Ciaron Maher.
So while dual Group 1-winning sprinter Russian Revolution undoubtedly injected plenty of pace and precocity into her legs, a stout staying pedigree on her dam’s side suggests that a race like the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) would be well within Lara Antipova’s distance range.
“We’re still a bit up in the air with her preparation but we should have a better picture after she runs on Saturday,” he told ANZ News. “At this stage we’re most likely looking at a Thousand Guineas preparation. If you look on her dam’s side, you’d have to think that she should get out to the mile without too many issues and we did some genetic testing which revealed she was a C:C long. Once we get her to a Thousand Guineas Prelude, we’ll probably have a much better idea over whether or not she gets a mile, but we haven’t quite figured out her program up to that point. She gets a Group 1 penalty which means she’ll have to carry 59 kilos in the Quezette on Saturday, that’s quite a big ask for a filly so we’ll just have a look at the programme to see if we can find some weight relief for her.”
Of the Cranbourne operation’s remaining spring stars, Gleeson is eagerly anticipating the set of jumpouts scheduled to take place at Caulfield on August 19, when Seize The Day, Geegees Mistruth and Bellatrix Star will ramp up their respective preparations.
Like Lara Antipova, beautifully-bred colt Seize The Day brings some impressive form with him from New Zealand, winning the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on the same day that his stablemate Belle Cheval proved she is more than capable of holding her own in Australia having taken out the Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) during Sydney’s autumn carnival.
Seize The Day, a full-brother to Group 3 winner California Zimbol, will kick off his Australian adventure in the McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at the end of the month, before being aimed either at the Coolmore or stepping up the mile in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m); while the newly-minted Group 1 Golden Eagle (1500m) will be the main aim for Belle Cheval.
In the more immediate future, last-start Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) heroine Geegees Mistruth and Bellatrix Star will both get their seasonal campaigns underway on Saturday week in the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), which this year moves to Sandown.
“We think both those mares can come out and stamp themselves as Group 1 sprinters this spring,” said Gleeson, who was also looking forward to the respective returns of stakes-placed filly I Am Aria (I Am Invincible) and Melody Belle’s daughter Lyrics ‘N Song (Written Tycoon) at Bendigo on Wednesday. Geegees has already got her Group 1 on the board, but Bellatrix Star may have a slight fitness edge after she resumed with a great effort [second] in the Sir John Monash Stakes last month at Caulfield. She’s a remarkable mare, she missed a whole year after fracturing her neck and then when she came back we had to remove some fetlock chips, so she missed another six months.
“The vets said it’s a miracle how well her neck healed because after it happened, we never thought we’d see her back at the races again. So for her to come through all that, she’s clearly a very tough mare and she looks absolutely amazing at the minute, her coat is just glowing. We’re very excited about what’s to come with her and the rest of the team, it’s probably the strongest hand we’ve ever had here at Cranbourne heading into the spring. We’ve got at least ten horses that are minimum metro class horses, and hopefully some if not all of them can put their hands up and progress to become stakes horses.”
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Guest Commentator – Des Coppins
Greetings John and Friday Flash readers and especially Lara Antipova’s owners under the Fortuna banner.
We all share in the excitement the syndicate has with last season’s best two year old as we wait her return to the track at Caulfield on Saturday.I’m sure she will give it her best shot as she aims to maintain her unbeaten record in the $200,000 Quezette Stakes over 1100m. In the last 6 years the Quezette launched Bella Nepotina into the limelight. She went on to win in excess of $A21m including 4 group ones and The Everest. Also on the Quezette roll of honour is Sunlight who won three group ones and was subsequently sold as a broodmare for $4.2m to Coolmore. Good luck to the Lara Antipova team.It’ll be compulsive Trackside viewing late on Saturday afternoon won’t it?
WHY TRENTHAM IS A MUST HAVE TODAY & TOMORROW
THERE are no certainties in racing and that goes for both horses and venues. We’ve known about horses along these lines for years but the venue subject has seriously reared its head mainly in the last fortnight with the Project Stamina Report. From Project Stamina the most alarming and head scratching paragraph was the potential closure of Trentham. I won’t say it won’t happen but with a good deal of optimism I’ll say that if it does it’ll be long after this baby boomer is well and truly pushing up daisies and for the record, heaven forbid, I’m going nowhere where it’s deep and dark in a hurry!
The Wellington Racing Club’s management, headed by recently elected president Simon Barber, is clearly focused on Trentham’s long term existence. I’d like to share part of Simon’s latest letter he sent to members along with the interesting betting turnovers to support reasons why the industry would be totally worse off without Trentham.
7 QUESTIONS!
Q1 Was Little Thief’s lead ups to the Grand National Hurdles win the most unorthodox you’ve ever seen? To think he ran in a 1600m race on the course proper at Riccarton on the first day; a middle distance win on the synthetic on Wednesday before coming from almost last to first in the 4200m open hurdles race on Saturday. Take a bow trainer, Kevin Myers.
Q2: Isn’t it time the Hall of Fame selection committee start thinking about Kevin Myers being strongly recommended for NZ Racing Hall of Fame induction? With over 1550 winners and a bloke who props up the jumping scene year after year and not withstanding how he has supported the big and small clubs throughout the country ever since he was licensed I doubt if too many of us would debate the issue would we?
Q3: The tooth and nail finish between Lord Spencer and Brucie in the Grand National Steeples was very exciting but marred by the over zealous whip display by Billy Marshall on the runner up. His actions resulted in a $1400 fine. Whipping horses not only needs to be toned down but dare I say it should whipping ultimately be banned entirely and only used for correction measures and not for winning races?
Q4. Did you pause for a minute or two this week and think about all the personnel involved in the NZ greyhound industry who are now out of the job they loved?
Q5: Are we really paying $80m for two years to rehoming of the 1000 greyhounds? That’s a massive chunk out of the industry funds isn’t it? While the lure keeps rolling in Australia for the betting to massively assist in these costs the banning here smacks of hypocrisy in the eyes of many with the dogs still running across the Tasman.
Q6: After 30 years in the industry Kylie Williams thankfully isn’t turning her back on it. She will be employed by NZTR as the South Island apprentice mentor. She retires from riding at the end of this month. Cutting costs is something that needs to happen across the board at NZTR according to Chris Waller but Kylie’s employment in her new role is money well spent don’t you think?
Q7: The Hambletonian Stakes in North America is widely considered, alongside the Prix d’Amerique in Paris, as the most famous and prestigious harness race in the world. It’s for three year old trotters and is worth $NZ1.7m. Last weekend our very own Dexter Dunn won the race in an epic battle at Meadowlands with Apex in a new record time of 1.49.4 for the 1600m. What a driver he is? It’s estimated that he earns close to $US 850,000 per year from racing commisions (5%) alone. When you consider we have James McDonald, a three time world champion jockey and Dexter Dunn, a 5-time USA champion harness driver, the horsemanship skills with these two globetrotting champions is something we should all be proud of.
RICCARTON FINAL DAY IMPROVERS
VALLEY KING: sadly for punters who made him a warm order he was forced to make a late run on the inner part of the track which didn’t help.
GUZZLER: after winning on the first day there was a fair amount of confidence that he could make it a double in the last race and he was far from disgraced when running 5th after getting clear late! In running 5th he was the second quickest to the line.
CORCAIGH: this lightly raced five year old caught the eye when beating dual subsequent winner Honour The Name at Ashburton about 6 weeks ago. She attacked the line to run 4th over 1400m with the quickest last 800 ,600 and 400 and she should be followed up.
RYDGES WELLINGTON GIVES A 20% DISCOUNT STAY
THIS week we’ve been busy renegotiating sponsorship deals with some of the Wellington RC’s partners. Both the TAB and Rydges have agreed to reconnect with Trentham this season with important black type races like TAB Mufhasa Classic on Saturday December 5 and the Rydges Cuddle Stakes in March.
What’s more Rydges in Wellington, less than 200m from the central Railway Station, is offering all would be stayers a generous 20% discount at anytime over the next 12 months.
Whether your are travelling to Wellington for a family gathering, a sporting event or racing at Trentham, subject to availability, this offer should prove popular with a good cross section of the racing industry, including of course the Fortuna family. Please click below and all is revealed.
Good Punting
Des Coppins
021 448 052
