Alizee provided a pair of milestone firsts for team Godolphin when recording a first Group 1 win in Saturday's G1 Flight S. at Randwick. The homebred is the first Group 1 winner for Darley sire Sepoy, and is also the first Group 1 winner in the royal blue for trainer James Cummings, who signed on as the operation's head trainer in July.
Though her sire did some of his best work at two, Alizee made her debut after the turn of the calendar, breaking her maiden on debut on Aug. 2 at Warwick Farm just after her third birthday. She then finished second, splitting Formality (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and Champagne Cuddles (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}), in the G2 Silver Shadow S. on Aug. 19, and was fourth behind that pair in the G2 Furious S. on Sept. 2. She got the better of Champagne Cuddles in the G2 Tea Rose S. on Sept. 16, and while that rival backed up to be second again in the following weekend's G1 Golden Rose S. against the colts, Alizee waited for this target. Alizee was dispatched favourite here, with Champagne Cuddles the second choice, and they raced in close quarters through the opening stages, with Champagne Cuddles leading Alizee at the back of the pack about eight lengths off the lead. Champagne Cuddles came under a drive by Jason Collett at the top of the stretch and cut through a narrow gap on the inside while Glyn Schofield steered Alizee to the outside. The pair met up again passing the 200, with Champagne Cuddles hitting the lead, but Alizee swallowed her up inside the 100 to win by a geared-down 2 1/4 lengths.
“This filly has just given me so much confidence, especially from her last-start win,” said Schofield. “She's got a turn of speed second to none at the end of her race. We had a chat before the race and our plan was definitely to be negative early on, if there was any doubts about the mile we were going to make sure she was switched off and relaxed, because once you let her go you saw what she can do.”
Pedigree Notes…
Alizee is the fourth foal out of Essaouira and has now entered the same sphere as her year-older half-brother Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), who won the G1 Golden Rose S. last year for Godolphin and is in the midst of his first season at stud at Darley's Kelvinside Stud. Essaouira, also the dam of the stakes-placed Mogador (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}), has a 2-year-old filly by Animal Kingdom named Leopard (Aus) and a yearling colt by Brazen Beau (Aus) to follow.
Alizee's next three dams are all black-type winners: second dam Alizes took the G2 Magic Night S. while third and fourth dams La Baraka and Triscay (Aus) (Marscay {Aus}) were both Group 1 winners. Click for the free Arion.co.nz catalogue-style pedigree.
Saturday, Randwick, Australia
FLIGHT S.-G1, A$505,000, ATC, 9-30, 3yo, f, Open Set Weight, 1600mT, 1:34.83, Good.
1–ALIZEE, 56.0, f, 3, by Sepoy
1st Dam: Essaouira, by Exceed and Excel
2nd Dam: Alizes (NZ), by Rory's Jester
3rd Dam: La Baraka, by Euclase (AUS)
*1st Group 1 win. O-Godolphin; B-Darley NSW; T-James
Cummings; J-G Schofield; A$292,000. Lifetime Record: 8-3-2-0,
A$527,800. *1/2 to Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), G1SW-Aus,
A$1,179,550; and Mogador (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}), GSP-Aus,
A$238,000. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: A++.
2–Champagne Cuddles, 56.0, f, 3, Not a Single Doubt–Sky
Cuddle, by Snippets. O-Champagne Ladies (Mgr: Mrs M J
Hardy); B-Ramsey Pastoral Co Pty Ltd QLD; T-Bjorn Baker; J-J R
Collett; A$94,000.
3–Cellargirl, 56.0, f, 3, More Than Ready–Vintage Blend, by
Cape Cross (IRE). (A$90,000 Ylg 2016 MM Gold Coast Yearling
Sale) O-Mrs J Whalley, Miss J L Wilson, Mrs A R Dougall, Miss
M J Wilson, Miss T Whalley, Miss H L Whalley & Mrs B M
Kachel; B-Encompass International Pty Ltd NSW; T-K M
Schweida; J-M J Walker; A$49,500.
Margins: 2.3 len, 4.6 len, 4.7 len. Odds: 1.90, 2.80, 9.00.
Also Ran: One More Honey, Smooth Landing, Luvaluva (NZ), I Am Excited, Sweet Deal, Pandemonium, Legal Girl, College Romance.
Click for the Racing Post result. VIDEO.
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